Irrational Man
A Study in Existential Philosophy
Published on 26. January 2011
320 pages
978-0-307-76108-8 (ISBN)
Description
Widely recognized as the finest definition of existentialist philosophy ever written, this book introduced existentialism to America in 1958. Barrett speaks eloquently and directly to concerns of the 1990s: a period when the irrational and the absurd are no better integrated than before and when humankind is in even greater danger of destroying its existence without ever understanding the meaning of its existence.
Irrational Man begins by discussing the roots of existentialism in the art and thinking of Augustine, Aquinas, Pascal, Baudelaire, Blake, Dostoevski, Tolstoy, Hemingway, Picasso, Joyce, and Beckett. The heart of the book explains the views of the foremost existentialists-Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Heidegger, and Sartre. The result is a marvelously lucid definition of existentialism and a brilliant interpretation of its impact.
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07/1962
Bantam Books
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William Barrett is widely known as one of the first philosophers to introduce existentialism to America. Besides a long and distinguished career as a professor of philosophy, he was editor of Partisan Review and the literary critic for Atlantic Monthly. Barrett authored The Illusion of Technique and The Truants, among other books. He died in 1992, at the age of 78.
Content
- Intro
- About the Author
- Title Page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Part One - "The Present Age"
- Chapter One - The Advent of Existentialism
- Chapter Two - The Encounter with Nothingness
- Chapter Three - The Testimony of Modern Art
- Part Two - The Sources of Existentialism in the Western Tradition
- Chapter Four - Hebraism and Hellenism
- Chapter Five - Christian Sources
- Chapter Six - The Flight from Laputa
- Part Three - The Existentialists
- Chapter Seven - Kierkegaard
- Chapter Eight - Nietzsche
- Chapter Nine - Heidegger
- Chapter Ten - Sartre
- Part Four - Integral vs. Rational Man
- Chapter Eleven - The Place of the Furies
- Appendices
- Appendix I: Negation, Finitude, and the Nature of Man
- Appendix II: Existence and Analytic Philosophers
- Copyright
