Customer Reviews

Existentialist Philosophy: An Introduction (2nd Edition)

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I found the first edition of this book in a used store for $5. I compared the table of contents of the two versions, and they are mostly the same. The second edition has selections from Sartre's No Exit and Camus' The Stranger, but other than that they appear to be identical.

That Oaklander can put together introductions to the selections included on this level of clarity and continuty is argument enough for the books purchase. Instead of the usual pablum that you find in introductory texts, he delivers concise, clear, well-exampled essays. He holds to an argument, a theme and follows it through to a conclusion the connects it all into one very nicely written and intelligent prologue. The jargon, when used is fully exampled and appropriate. Good first time reading as well as a handy quick review.

This book is an excellent introduction to existentialist thought. The pieces written by Oaklander are very good and help to paint a balanced and informative picture of the main positions of each philosopher. Primary texts are often difficult for the unacquainted reader to understand, so Oaklander's writings are a big help. The excerpts from the original writings are well-chosen and interesting. The only aspect of the book that I did not like is the sparse treatment Camus received. He deserves more attention than he was given. I would imagine that it is difficult to compile a rather concise book that has a significant amount of breadth and depth, but Oaklander has done it. If you are interested in studying existentialist philosophy and would like to begin establishing a foundation, this book is for you.

I find this to be a very informative book (from what I've read) and I look forward to taking his course @ UM-Flint this next semester...