Existentialism

Robert C. Solomon takes the best writtings from the greatest philisophers of existentialism and combines them into an awesome 400 page pack. Combined with minor notes and histories, this is a book that should be treasured by any philosopher. If you want one book on the subject, believe me, this is the best you can do.

I must admit I bought this for a class, but I really enjoyed it a great deal. Typically I dislike books that are simply excerpts from philosophical texts and sell them as soon as the class I need the book for is over, but Solomon provides a nice, concise overview of the most prominant of the existential thinkers as well as some exisential plays and novels. It truly is a great overview of existentialism and would be a great intro for anyone interested in the subject.

Solomon selects 26 authors, that give a flavor of the attitude of existentialism (up through 1974). The selections from the novelists such as Dostoevsky, Hesse, Camus, Becket and Saul Bellow capture the tone best for me. Although the more philosophical writings of Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, and Sartre are all fairly readable, the selections from Heidegger and Jaspers were rough going. Each author is introduced with a brief background that presents the author in context. Solomon does not define existentialism nor offer a single dogma to the herd. This is a good thing! Solomon allows the authors to speak for themselves, and nothing more should be expected of this most individualistic of philosophies. Contrasted to Nietzsche's "God is Dead", Existentialism is not necessarily atheistic, as the inclusion of Kierkegaard, Marcel, Dostoevsky, Buber, and Tillich illustrate. Existentialism is nothing if it doesn't emphasize individual existence, so make the choice to stop reading this review, and read the book and write your own review!

_Existentialism_ includes excerpts from 26 existentialists, from a couple pages in length to over 40 in the case of Jean-Paul Sartre. These excerpts are each preceded by a brief biographical introduction. If the purpose of this book was to pique my interest in further reading of the included authors, it accomplished its purpose. I found myself really touched by the excerpts of Kierkegaard, for example, and have since read much more of him. Editing the work of these great thinkers, might on the surface, seem like a simple task, but now that I am more specifically aware of body of work by Kierkegaard and to a lesser extent, a few of the others, I appreciate the job Solomon did of selecting these texts. Athough I am pleased, I am sure Solomon didn't please everyone! Robert C. Solomon begins this book with a fine eleven page essay on existentialism. Here are a few excerpts: "It is a commonly accepted half-truth that existentialism is a revolt against traditional Western rationalistic philosophy. It is also a demonstrable half-truth that existentialist philosophy is very much a continuation and logical expansion of themes and problems in Descartes, Kant, Hegel, Marx, and Husserl. Existentialism is not simply a philosophy or philosophical revolt. Existentialist philosophy is an explicit conceptual manifestation of the existential attitude--a spirit of `the present age.' It is a philosophical realization of self-conscious living in a `broken world' (Marcel), an `ambiguous world' (de Beauvoir), a `dislocated world' (Merleau-Ponty)..." "So long as we think of philosophy as a set of (hopefully) true propositions, we will continue to be tempted by notions that philosophy can be a `science,' that there is a correct way of doing philosophy, that philosophical judgement or body of judgement can be true. If instead we allow ourselves to think of philosophy as expression, these rigid demands seem pointless or vulgar." Some might consider it poor form to read through a book of excerpts, but had there not been such a text, I don't think I would have been exposed to many of the writers that are featured. My appreciation and thanks goes to Robert C. Solomon.

This is an fantastic display of Existentialism. It says anything and everything about the philosophy including the views of the Greats. I highly recommend this book to anyone unfamiliar with the topic or is anxious to learn more