
All Things Shining
Reading the Western Classics to Find Meaning in a Secular Age
The Free Press
Published on 10. November 2011
Book
Paperback/Softback
272 pages
978-1-4165-9616-5 (ISBN)
Description
A sense of certainty and unhesitating confidence is rare in the contemporary world. An unrelenting flow of choices confronts us at nearly every moment of our lives, and if we are honest about it then most of us will admit that we waver in the face of them.
Dreyfus and Kelly examine some of the greatest books in the Western Canon to explain that the burden of choice is essentially a modern problem to which there is an age old solution. Dreyfus and Kelly explain the huge jump from Homer's polytheistic world to the monotheistic one in which Dante wrote his Divine Comedy and Martin Luther wrote his ninety-five theses. They then take the reader forward to the rejection of this Christian ideal, to the Superman of Nietzsche and further onto the spiritual cornucopia of Herman Melville's Moby Dick.Arrivingat the ennui and emptiness that pervades our modern world in which the work of Elizabeth Gilbert and David Foster Wallace arose, Dreyfus and Kelly offer a new-and very old-way to embrace the world, a fresh way to live a meaningful life in a secular world
Dreyfus and Kelly examine some of the greatest books in the Western Canon to explain that the burden of choice is essentially a modern problem to which there is an age old solution. Dreyfus and Kelly explain the huge jump from Homer's polytheistic world to the monotheistic one in which Dante wrote his Divine Comedy and Martin Luther wrote his ninety-five theses. They then take the reader forward to the rejection of this Christian ideal, to the Superman of Nietzsche and further onto the spiritual cornucopia of Herman Melville's Moby Dick.Arrivingat the ennui and emptiness that pervades our modern world in which the work of Elizabeth Gilbert and David Foster Wallace arose, Dreyfus and Kelly offer a new-and very old-way to embrace the world, a fresh way to live a meaningful life in a secular world
Reviews / Votes
"[A]n inspirational book but a highly intelligent and impassioned one.... compelling." -The Wall Street Journal "Offers a meditation on the meaning of life, in a sharp, engaging style ..." New York Times Book ReviewMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Publishing group
Simon & Schuster
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Dimensions
Height: 215 mm
Width: 141 mm
Thickness: 22 mm
Weight
242 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-4165-9616-5 (9781416596165)
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

Hubert Dreyfus | Sean Dorrance Kelly
All Things Shining
Reading the Western Classics to Find Meaning in a Secular Age
E-Book
01/2011
1st Edition
Free Press
€13.84
Available for download
Persons
Hubert Dreyfus (1929-2017) was a leading interpreter of existential philosophy and a professor of philosophy at the University of California, Berkeley for over forty years.
Sean Dorrance Kelly is Dean of Arts and Humanities and professor of philosophy at Harvard University. Before arriving at Harvard, Kelly taught at Stanford and Princeton, and he was a visiting professor at the Ecole Normale Superieure in Paris. He is considered a leading interpreter of the French and German tradition in phenomenology, as well as a prominent philosopher of mind. Kelly has published articles in numerous journals and anthologies and has received fellowships or awards from the Guggenheim Foundation, the NEH, the NSF and the James S. McDonnell Foundation, among others.
Sean Dorrance Kelly is Dean of Arts and Humanities and professor of philosophy at Harvard University. Before arriving at Harvard, Kelly taught at Stanford and Princeton, and he was a visiting professor at the Ecole Normale Superieure in Paris. He is considered a leading interpreter of the French and German tradition in phenomenology, as well as a prominent philosopher of mind. Kelly has published articles in numerous journals and anthologies and has received fellowships or awards from the Guggenheim Foundation, the NEH, the NSF and the James S. McDonnell Foundation, among others.