A Phenomenology of Love and Hate (Ashgate New Critical Thinking in Philosophy) [Hardcover]

Peter Hadreas (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0754661466 | ISBN-13: 978-0754661467 | Publication Date: October 16, 2007

Using phenomenology to uncover the implicit logic in personal love, sexual love, and hatred, Peter Hadreas provides new insights into the uniqueness of the beloved and offers fresh explanations for some of the worst outbreaks of violence and hatred in modern times. The topics discussed include the value and subjectivity of personal love, nudity and the temporality of sexual love, the connection between personal, sexual love, and the incest taboo, the development of group-focused hatred from individual focused hatred, and prejudicial discrimination. The work encompasses analysis of philosophers and writers from ancient times through to the present day and examines such episodes as the Oklahoma City Federal Building bombing and the Columbine High School massacre.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Peter Hadreas is Associate Professor in the Department of Philosophy, San Jose State University, USA.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 152 pages
• Publisher: Ashgate (October 16, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0754661466
• ISBN-13: 978-0754661467
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,281,290 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Layman's review of A Phenomenology of Love and Hate, March 17, 2009

By 

steven keeley - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Phenomenology of Love and Hate (Ashgate New Critical Thinking in Philosophy) (Hardcover)

This heady book uses the tool of phenomenology to describe the dry logic of love, and of hate. Phenomenology is the philosophical view that takes the intuitive sense of conscious experience and describes it. When you love or hate something, whether it be sexual love or full-blown hate, what is the precise relationship between you and the thing independent of external factors.



Whew. It's a tall order that Peter Hadreas fills eloquently in A Phenomenology of Love and Hate, and if you can afford the price for what's between the covers, expect to be satisfied. He examines personal love- `the cherishing of another person'-, sexual love, nudity, incest and on to terror. The author smoothly blends the emotions of these extremes in wandering a line of philosophers from ancient through present times, but keep your dictionary handy.



I recently sat, chatted, and was enthralled by an impromptu classical piano recital by the author in his San Francisco living room. His persona, like the book, is hermetically sealed in a philosopher's study of the details of the cracks of the known universe. Phenomenologists oppose the unobservable & speculative for the empirical, so I sat on the floor next to an equally affixed wire-haired terrier concentrating on the classical excerpts with alternating pnenomonelogy explanation including quotes from the book, and trying to separate my enjoyment for the show from the melodies and discourses to understand my awareness.



At the conclusion, I shook the author's hand and concluded to reread his scholarly book.