The Risk of Being attempts to forge a new language and a new way of reasoning about what it is like to be good and bad by focusing on existential phenomena that reveal what it means to be good and bad. It is thus a work that cannot be located among or compared to the more traditional theories of ethics or morality. What distinguishes this inquiry is not only the use of existential themes, such as outrage, temptation, and corruption, but the reasoning itself in an existential critique, which allows us to consider how and what we think as well as feel about being good and bad--the...
The Risk of Being attempts to forge a new language and a new way of reasoning about what it is like to be good and bad by focusing on exis...
How do we ask the great questions? What does it mean to ask so profoundly? What does it mean for us to ask at all? Michael Gelven confronts these questions as he explores humans as self-reflecting thinkers. He recognizes two central phenomena as fundamental: the recognition of our own possibility lying within our existence and the realization of our suspension between total ignorance and complete knowledge.
Using concrete analyses, Gelven investigates the questions we ask that may seem initially unanswerable but are ultimately confronted through our own self-realization. Asking...
How do we ask the great questions? What does it mean to ask so profoundly? What does it mean for us to ask at all? Michael Gelven confronts these q...
Writing deliberately in a nontechnical style so as to make his book accessible to readers who are not professional philosophers, Michael Gelven here offers an extended meditative essay on the nature and meaning of truth. He approaches this subject directly, rather than through a critique of what others have said about it, and takes off from the realization that truth has a wider meaning than that which can be found in the analysis of true sentences, which is the focus of traditional epistemology.
Pursuing philosophical inquiry as a voyage of discovery, the book begins with ordinary...
Writing deliberately in a nontechnical style so as to make his book accessible to readers who are not professional philosophers, Michael Gelven her...
War is a multifaceted and complex phenomenon that cannot be understood merely by isolating its underlying principles. The elements that compose the vast mosaic of our conceptions of war must be identified and examined in light of their philosophical origins. Michael Gelven not only identifies what the fundamental principles are, but he also extracts from the history of philosophy the arguments and analyses of the concepts that explain how we think about it.
War and Existence is primarily concerned with what war is or what the truth about war is rather than the moral question...
War is a multifaceted and complex phenomenon that cannot be understood merely by isolating its underlying principles. The elements that compose the...
Most of us have felt, at one time or another, an attraction to the idea that fate plays a role in our lives. It is difficult to dismiss entirely the notion that certain things were somehow meant to be. Perhaps key events did not just happen but were inevitable, maybe even a part of our destiny. As thoughtful and critical beings, however, we may find that we cannot explain to ourselves or to others just what fate means. In this groundbreaking work, Michael Gelven confronts the question of fate and shows how it is possible to think clearly about fate without abandoning logic or philosophical...
Most of us have felt, at one time or another, an attraction to the idea that fate plays a role in our lives. It is difficult to dismiss entirely the n...
This thoroughly revised commentary uses the most recent insights in Heidegger studies to lead the reader through the sometimes difficult text of Being and Time. The clearly marked section-by-section analysis explains the structure of Being and Time, illuminates obscure passages, and presents examples of human experience to elucidate Heidegger's points. So that the reader does not lose sight of the main argument, Gelven summarizes the relevant concepts of Heidegger's chapters prior to his explicit interpretation of each section. Even though Gelven's commentary is primarily intended to be used...
This thoroughly revised commentary uses the most recent insights in Heidegger studies to lead the reader through the sometimes difficult text of Being...
In this original and compelling exploration of the meaning of the term 'fine' and the phenomenon of refinement, noted scholar Michael Gelven reflects on the relationship between refinement and existence. Beginning with a study of perceptual refinement, Gelven shows how in some cases this refinement discloses an existential essence--as an architect shows us what it means to dwell. Gelven then moves to a refinement of self, not equating it with virtue but showing how refinement illuminates our understanding of our ethical and aesthetic judgments, and of what it means to be.
In this original and compelling exploration of the meaning of the term 'fine' and the phenomenon of refinement, noted scholar Michael Gelven reflects ...
