The Natural World as a Philosophical Problem

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ISBN 978-0-8101-3363-1Cloth Text – $99.95
ISBN 978-0-8101-3362-4Paper Text – $34.95
ISBN 978-0-8101-3361-7Contributors
Publication Date
August 2016
Categories
Page Count
240 pages
Trim Size
6 x 9
ISBN
0-8101-3361-X
The Natural World as a Philosophical Problem
The first text to critically discuss Edmund Husserl’s concept of the "life-world," The Natural World as a Philosophical Problem reflects Jan Patocka's youthful conversations with the founder of phenomenology and two of his closest disciples, Eugen Fink and Ludwig Landgrebe. Now available in English for the first time, this translation includes an introduction by Landgrebe and two self-critical afterwords added by Patocka in the 1970s. Unique in its extremely broad range of references, the work addresses the views of Russell, Wittgenstein, and Carnap alongside Husserl and Heidegger, in a spirit that considerably broadens the understanding of phenomenology in relation to other twentieth-cen tury trends in philosophy. Even eighty years after first appearing, it is of great value as a general introduction to philosophy, and it is essential reading for students of the history of phenomenology as well as for those desiring a full understanding of Patocka’s contribution to contemporary thought.
Reviews
“Finally in English, the first book explicitly dedicated to the groundbreaking topic of the life-world. Conceived with an intimate knowledge of the manuscripts that would lead to Husserl's Crisis, Patocka's study is far more than a commentary: it brilliantly advocates the need for philosophy, not by idealizing philosophy as a ‘unity function’ for the modern person’s splintered consciousness, but by drawing philosophy itself into the existential quest and returning to its Socratic impulses.” —Dr. Ludger Hagedorn, Head, Jan Patocka Archive, Institute for Human Sciences, Vienna
The Natural World as a Philosophical Problem “provides an engaging précis of Patocka's powerfully original philosophical approach to nature and illustrates his adept deployment of phenomenological method.” —Steven G. Crowell, author of Husserl, Heidegger, and the Space of Meaning