Justifying Our Existence: An Essay in Applied Phenomenology

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 a practical application for existential concerns. Justifying Our Existence shows how phenomenology can be used to foreground existence, while also providing startling insights into human behaviour, the motivation behind many of our social systems, as well as one of the twentieth century's most important philosophers.

Author: Graeme Nicholson
Publisher: University of Toronto Press
Published: 02/01/2009
Pages: 191
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.65lbs
Size: 8.70h x 6.00w x 0.60d
ISBN: 9780802096203

Review Citation(s):
Reference and Research Bk News 05/01/2009 pg. 4

About the Author
Nicholson, Graeme: - Graeme Nicholson is a professor emeritus of Philosophy at the University of Toronto.

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