Nothingness and Emptiness: A Buddhist Engagement With the Ontology of Jean-Paul Sartre [Paperback]

Steven William Laycock (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 22, 2001

Brings together the philosophy of Jean-Paul Sartre and Zen Buddhism.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

This sustained and distinctively Buddhist challenge to the ontology of Jean-Paul Sartre's Being and Nothingness resolves the incoherence implicit in the Sartrean conception of nothingness by opening to a Buddhist vision of emptiness. Rooted in the insights of Madhyamika dialectic and an articulated meditative (zen) phenomenology, Nothingness and Emptiness uncovers and examines the assumptions that sustain Sartre's early phenomenological ontology and questions his theoretical elaboration of consciousness as "nothingness." Laycock demonstrates that, in addition to a "relative" nothingness (the for-itself) defined against the positivity and plenitude of the in-itself, Sartre's ontology requires, but also repudiates, a conception of "absolute" nothingness (the Buddhist "emptiness"), and is thus, as it stands, logically unstable, perhaps incoherent. The author is not simply critical; he reveals the junctures at which Sartrean ontology appeals for a Buddhist conception of emptiness and offers the needed supplement.

About the Author

Steven W. Laycock is Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Toledo and the author of Mind as Mirror and the Mirroring of Mind: Buddhist Reflections on Western Phenomenology, coeditor (with James G. Hart) of Essays in Phenomenological Theology, also published by SUNY Press, and author of Foundations for a Phenomenological Theology.

Product Details

• Paperback: 232 pages
• Publisher: State University of New York Press (February 22, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0791449106
• ISBN-13: 978-0791449103
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,610,343 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Contrary to the Prior Review. . ., December 5, 2006

By 

Fred Spears (Victoria, BC and Detroit, MI) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Nothingness and Emptiness: A Buddhist Engagement With the Ontology of Jean-Paul Sartre (Paperback)

I actually quite enjoyed this. No, it's certainly not for someone with a passing interest in Philosophy; likewise for someone with a minor vocabulary. It is, absolutely, a difficult work. But Laycock seems interested in preserving his ideas in the honeycombed Literary modes of Phenomenology, Existentialism and (a relatively esoteric form of) Buddhism, and succeeds by acheiving a work as complex as it is. This defines the barrier for the average reader though, regardless of how versed they are in "jargon." Laycock is painstaking in his analysis, both in its poesis and its content, and the book is certainly worth the time if you are deeply interested in any of the aforementioned doctrines. However, as the other reviewer exemplifies, if you're not able to really dig in and spend a few minutes with each page (literally so, it's a SLOW read), you may as well use it as a fan instead. Overall, though, _Nothingness and Emptiness_ turns out to be a wonderful experience of rich, meditative philosophy, challenging and rewarding in its complexity and linguistic depth. Laycock's assertions and conclusions (especially those involving Nagarjuna and Madhyamaka Buddhism) are absolutely fascinating even if one is compelled to disagree at times. But the end result is an expanded and appreciative view of Mahayana Buddhism, and an absolutely exploded take on Sartrean Existentialism/Phenomenology. I feel the book is deserving of far better than one solitary, short-sighted bash--give it a try. If you've any interest in either half of Laycock's equation (i.e.- Buddhism OR Sartre) you'll be surprisingly welcomed if you attempt it with patience and an empty mind.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Read and re-read, November 15, 2007

By 

Oldant - See all my reviews

This review is from: Nothingness and Emptiness: A Buddhist Engagement With the Ontology of Jean-Paul Sartre (Paperback)

This book is rich in insight and throughness. Yes, you need time to read it, but Laycock has taken an idea that I've thrown around in my own mind for some time and expanded on it with a philospher's throughness.
I am aware that similar arguments are available in Asian texts, but with a Westerner's skepticism, I needed a good Western argument to convince me!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Awe-inspiring!, June 6, 2011

By 

Vernon Preitauer - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Nothingness and Emptiness: A Buddhist Engagement With the Ontology of Jean-Paul Sartre (Hardcover)

It amazes me what some regard as "boring". But I will warn you, if you find
Derrida, Heidegger, Levinas and Sartre boring, then avoid this book. However,
if these authors fascinate you -Read this book! Then, read it again. I would
pay ten times what I did for this cerebral adventure!