| Asking Mystery - Ppr. Contributor(s): Gelven, Michael (Author) |
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ISBN: 0271019867 ISBN-13: 9780271019864 Publisher: Penn State University Press OUR PRICE: $30.64 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: April 2001 Annotation: How do we ask the great questions? What does it mean to ask so profoundly? What does it mean for us to ask at all? Michael Gelven confronts these questions as he explores humans as self-reflecting thinkers. He recognizes two central phenomena as fundamentaL: the recognition of our own possibility lying within our existence and the realization of our suspension between total ignorance and complete knowledge. Using concrete analyses, Gelven investigates the questions we ask that may seem initially unanswerable but are ultimately confronted through our own self-realization. Asking becomes fundamental when we shift from relying on projected schemes, such as clocks and calendars that enable answers to ordinary questions about time, to an ongoing, nonschematic reflection on our own existence. Not only are Platonic, Kantian, Nietzschean, and Heideggerian analyses considered, but so are David's psalms, Auden's poetry, and Shakespeare's plays. Gelven asserts that fundamental asking is essential to our being: we must ask greatly first, for the great explains the lesser; the small does not account for the large. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Philosophy | Movements - Phenomenology - Philosophy | Epistemology - Philosophy | Criticism |
| Dewey: 121.6 |
| LCCN: 99029264 |
| Physical Information: 0.59" H x 5.99" W x 8.91" (0.65 lbs) 176 pages |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: How do we ask the great questions? What does it mean to ask so profoundly? What does it mean for us to ask at all? Michael Gelven confronts these questions as he explores humans as self-reflecting thinkers. He recognizes two central phenomena as fundamental: the recognition of our own possibility lying within our existence and the realization of our suspension between total ignorance and complete knowledge. Using concrete analyses, Gelven investigates the questions we ask that may seem initially unanswerable but are ultimately confronted through our own self-realization. Asking becomes fundamental when we shift from relying on projected schemes, such as clocks and calendars that enable answers to ordinary questions about time, to an ongoing, nonschematic reflection on our own existence. Not only are Platonic, Kantian, Nietzschean, and Heideggerian analyses considered, but so are David's psalms, Auden's poetry, and Shakespeare's plays. Gelven asserts that fundamental asking is essential to our being: we must ask greatly first, for the great explains the lesser; the small does not account for the large. |
Contributor Bio(s): Gelven, Michael: - Michael Gelven is Presidential Research Professor at Northern Illinois University. He is the author of many books, including three books previously published by Penn State Press: Truth and Existence(1991), War and Existence (1994), and The Risk of Being: What It Means to Be Good and Bad (1997). |