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...

Emil Fackenheim, now retired from the University of Toronto, is one of Canada's most influential and internationally recognized philosophers. Bringing together philosophy and Jewish studies, his writings are relevant to a number of philosophical inquiries, including the philosophy of history, metaphysics, and the philosophy of religion.

In this book an international group of publishers presents an overview of Fackenheim's thought. The volume includes an introduction, ten papers, and response from Fackenheim himself. Among the topics discussed are the influence of Hegel and German...