The Reason of the Gift

by Jean-Luc Marion, Stephen E. Lewis (Translator)

Overview

This book represents a continuation of Jean-Luc Marion’s work on givenness as a foundational concept. A former student of Jacques Derrida, Marion is known for his work in seventeenth-century French philosophy, for his theory of "God without being," and for his reformulation of phenomenology. Marion’s groundbreaking work on givenness is articulated through attentive readings in a striking array of philosophical texts. The four pieces collected here, based on the fall 2008 Richard Lectures at the University of Virginia, expand upon and go beyond the lines of Marion’s previous work and exemplify the intersection of his own constructive brilliance with his talent and rigor as a historian of philosophy. Reengaging philosophers long central to Marion’s own work (Husserl, Heidegger, Levinas) and highlighting the significance of lesser-known but decisive influences (Natorp, Rickert, Meinong), these lectures will be valuable to readers interested in the ongoing conversation seeking to bridge the divide between Continental and analytic philosophies, particularly through the exploration of common points of origin. These pieces tackle some of the most pressing debates in contemporary European philosophy and offer students of Marion material to ponder as they seek to further understand his influences. Taken together, these essays form an important volume by a major figure in contemporary philosophy.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780813931784
Publisher:	University of Virginia Press
Publication date:	09/26/2011
Series:	Richard Lectures
Pages:	128
Product dimensions:	5.80(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.70(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Jean-Luc Marion, Andrew Thomas Greeley and Grace McNichols Greeley Professor of Catholic Studies and Professor of the Philosophy of Religions and Theology at the University of Chicago Divinity School, is a member of the Académie française and is the author of Reduction and Givenness: Investigations of Husserl, Heidegger, and Phenomenology and Being Given: Toward a Phenomenology of Givenness.

Stephen E. Lewis, Associate Professor of English at the Franciscan University of Steubenville, is also the translator of Jean-Luc Marion’s Prolegomena to Charity and The Erotic Phenomenon.

Editorial Reviews

Jean-Luc Marion is the most eminent living French philosopher, and his translator here, Stephen Lewis, is one of the best in the business. In The Reason of the Gift, Marion elaborates the nature of givenness and relates it to the theme of the gift. He works closely with extremely difficult texts yet remains as clear as possible in a work that is both examining old battlegrounds and breaking new ground. The Reason of the Gift will be much in demand for students and professors of late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century philosophy.

Kevin Hart

The scholarship and analysis in The Reason of the Gift, as with all that Marion publishes, are of the first rank—not only exemplary in their thoroughness, precision, and nuance, but of an originality and substance distinctively the author’s own. The terrain covered here, indeed, is terrain defined more by this thinker than by any other. A set of typically rigorous, informative, challenging, and illuminating essays by one of the world’s leading philosophers.

Thomas Carlson

"Jean-Luc Marion is the most eminent living French philosopher, and his translator here, Stephen Lewis, is one of the best in the business. In The Reason of the Gift, Marion elaborates the nature of givenness and relates it to the theme of the gift. He works closely with extremely difficult texts yet remains as clear as possible in a work that is both examining old battlegrounds and breaking new ground. The Reason of the Gift will be much in demand for students and professors of late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century philosophy. "—Kevin Hart, University of Virginia

"The scholarship and analysis in The Reason of the Gift, as with all that Marion publishes, are of the first rank—not only exemplary in their thoroughness, precision, and nuance, but of an originality and substance distinctively the author’s own. The terrain covered here, indeed, is terrain defined more by this thinker than by any other. A set of typically rigorous, informative, challenging, and illuminating essays by one of the world’s leading philosophers. "—Thomas Carlson, University of California, Santa Barbara

From the Publisher