'We may therefore conclude that imagination is not an empirical power added to consciousness, but it is the whole of consciousness as it realizes its freedom.' - Jean-Paul Sartre . Sartre's L'Imaginaire was first published in French in 1940 and in English in 1948. This new translation, the first for over fifty years, is of the recent French edition revised by Arlette Elkaim-Sartre. It corrects many important mistakes in the earlier English translation and includes a new introduction by Jonathan Webber, placing the book in a contemporary context. The Imaginary is one of Sartre's most important...

The Imaginary was originally published in France in 1940 as L'Imaginaire. Designed specifically as an essay in phenomenology, it marks the first attempt to introduce Husserl's work into French culture and from there to the English-speaking world. Published three years before Being and Nothingness, it contains Sartre's first extended examination of such concepts as nothingness and freedom. It is in The Imaginary that Sartre first presents the theories of human imagination and consciousness that were to drive his existentialism and his entire theories of human freedom. This new translation by...

- Directly relevant to the needs of teachers and researchers in music, musicology, ethnomusicology and social anthropology. This book examines the significance of music in the construction of identities and ethnicities, and suggests ways to understand music as social practice. The authors focus on the role of music in the construction of national and regional identities; the media and 'postmodern identity'; concepts of authenticity; aesthetics; meaning; performance; 'world music'; and the use of music as a focus for discursive evocations of 'place'. The chapters tackle a wide range of...

Webber argues for a new interpretation of Sartrean existentialism. On this reading, Sartre is arguing that each person's character consists in the projects they choose to pursue and that we are all already aware of this but prefer not to face it. Careful consideration of his existentialist writings shows this to be the unifying theme of his theories of consciousness, freedom, the self, bad faith, personal relationships, existential psychoanalysis, and the possibility of authenticity. Developing this account affords many insights into various aspects of his philosophy, not least concerning the...

Character plays a central role in our everyday understanding and evaluation of ourselves and one another. It informs the expectations that ground our plans and projects, our moral responses to other people's behaviour and to opportunities we ourselves face, and our political decisions concerning formal education, criminal punishment, and other aspects of social organisation. The very idea that people have persisting character traits that explain their behaviour is woven throughout the fabric of our culture. These philosophical essays clarify this idea of character, analyse its relation with...

This much-updated edition of a ground-breaking book expands the broad coverage of its stimulating approach. With forty-five new photographs and accompanying essays, it convincingly demonstrates the complexity of the Jewish past in Polish Galicia and the attempts to memorialize its heritage, as well as the unexpected revival of Jewish life.