Justifying Our Existence: An Essay in Applied Phenomenology (New Studies in Phenomenology and Hermeneutics) - Softcover

Nicholson, Graeme

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0802096204 ISBN 13: 9780802096203

Publisher: University of Toronto Press, 2009

Synopsis

In his magnum opus Being in Time (1927), Martin Heidegger (1889-1976) argued that individuals have assumed that their existence is "a given," when in actual fact they simply have the ability to be. Justifying Our Existence examines the ways in which human beings attempt to calm their existential concerns by magnifying and proving their existence through phenomena such as self-righteousness, careerism, nationalism, and religion.

Using remarkably accessible and concise writing, Graeme Nicholson provides a close reading of Heidegger's methods to indicate how his work has a practical application for existential concerns. Justifying Our Existence shows how phenomenology can be used to foreground existence, while also providing startling insights into human behaviour, the motivation behind many of our social systems, as well as one of the twentieth century's most important philosophers.

About this title

About the Author

Graeme Nicholson is a professor emeritus of Philosophy at the University of Toronto.

Edition details

• Publisher: University of Toronto Press
• Publication date: 2009
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0802096204
• ISBN 13: 9780802096203
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 208