Existentialism: A Beginner's Guide (Beginners Guide (Oneworld)) [Paperback]

Thomas E. Wartenberg (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 15, 2008 | Series: Beginners Guide (Oneworld)

Existentialism is one of few philosophical terms that pervades modern culture, cropping up in movies such as the Matrix and Fight Club, and yet most people don't really know exactly what it means. Using key concepts--including Freedom and the Absurd--Wartenberg clearly presents the ideas of legendary thinkers to a general modern audience.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Thomas E. Wartenberg is Professor of Philosophy at Mount Holyoke College, Massachusetts, USA. He is the author of Unlikely Couples: Movie Romance as Social Criticism.

Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Oneworld (August 15, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1851685936
• ISBN-13: 978-1851685936
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5.2 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #93,931 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I am a philosophy professor at Mount Holyoke College. My main areas of active research are the philosophy of film and philosophy for children.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

35 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Start Here. Don't Necessarily End Here., September 24, 2009

By 

Reader (Arlington, Virginia) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Existentialism: A Beginner's Guide (Beginners Guide (Oneworld)) (Paperback)

Existentialism should be pitied. Its ideas are exciting and urgent. It inspires great novels. It even promises to restore the relevance of philosophy to real life. Yet the movement's canonical philosophical texts are unreadable. Never have so many bedrock human problems been analyzed in such inhumanly turgid (and longwinded) prose. Never has a philosophical movement been so disserved by its most important philosophers.

Fortunately, "Existentialism: A Beginner's Guide" is a fantastic primer for anyone who wants to know the basics of existentialist philosophy. The exposition is clear and logical, and sticks to a few key themes. Concepts are illustrated with examples from literature and movies. The author even uses autobiography to connect abstract ideas to real problems of life. Though a professor, he remembers why ordinary people are drawn to philosophy!

With this book under their belt, readers might want to tackle ponderous tomes by Heidegger and Sartre. But even if they don't (and they might not want to once they get 10 pages into "Being and Time"), they will be left with real insights into bad faith, dasein, anxiety, the "They," and other strange-sounding existentialist ideas that lose much of their strangeness when approached via this book. Highly recommended.

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars All you need to know about Existentialism in a book that's good to read!, November 12, 2008

By 

Mrs. M. J. Allen "Melanie Allen" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Existentialism: A Beginner's Guide (Beginners Guide (Oneworld)) (Paperback)

I've been looking for this for a long time: a great little book about Exsitentialism - and a really good read. There's nothing else like it on the market. Mr Wartenberg writes clearly and accessibly about a difficult subject for non-philosophers like me to get our heads round. You can read it as a stand-alone or as a starting point. If you want to read more, the key texts - both philosophy and literary ones - are given. Key figures are given in short thumbnail sketches as and when they crop up in the main text, which gives you a context. The main ideas are explored with the aid of examples and Mr. Wartenberg doesn't get caught up in the complicated side-issues and arguments that always arise in philosophy. Read it - you'll be enlightened!

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Terrific place to begin learning about Existentialism, March 3, 2010

By 

Warren R. Grayson "Constant Reader" (Birmingham, AL United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Existentialism: A Beginner's Guide (Beginners Guide (Oneworld)) (Paperback)

Thomas Wartenberg has written a superb introduction to the philosophy of Existentialism. He states, "My goal in writing this book is to reveal the excitement and allure of Existentialism in such a way that even my own teenage self - and thus everyone who has found the Existentialists' ideas useful but hard to comprehend - can grasp them. Whether I have succeeded, of course, is not for me to say." - I believe he has.

Wartenberg covers all the major Existentialists (Heidegger, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Sartre, Beauvoir, Camus, Kierkegaard, et al) in nine easy to read chapters: 1) Existence, 2) Freedom, 3) Others, 4) Anxiety, 5) Finitude, 6) The Absurd, 7) Authenticity, 8) Oppression and 9) Conclusion. My degree is in Philosophy and I took a class on Existentialism in college and I can say that this book is quite good and that it can prepare anyone to move on to some more challenging books such as Irrational Man: A Study in Existential Philosophy or Basic Writings of Existentialism (Modern Library Classics). Highly recommended; I have found that the "Beginners Guides" books are usually very good.