The asking mystery : a philosophical inquiry

Bibliographic Information

The asking mystery : a philosophical inquiry

Michael Gelven

Pennsylvania State University Press, c2000

  • : pbk

Available at  / 3 libraries

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Includes index

Description and Table of Contents

Description

How do we ask the great questions? What does it mean to ask so profoundly? What does it mean for us to ask at all? Michael Gelven confronts these questions as he explores humans as self-reflecting thinkers. He recognizes two central phenomena as fundamental: the recognition of our own possibility lying within our existence and the realization of our suspension between total ignorance and complete knowledge. Using concrete analyses, Gelven investigates the questions we ask that may seem initially unanswerable but are ultimately confronted through our own self-realization. Asking becomes fundamental when we shift from relying on projected schemes, such as clocks and calendars that enable answers to ordinary questions about time, to an ongoing, nonschematic reflection on our own existence. Not only are Platonic, Kantian, Nietzschean, and Heideggerian analyses considered, but so are David's psalms, Auden's poetry, and Shakespeare's plays. Gelven asserts that fundamental asking is essential to our being: we must ask greatly first, for the great explains the lesser; the small does not account for the large.

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Details

  • NCID
    BA48297467
  • ISBN
    • 0271019859
    • 0271019867
  • LCCN
    99029264
  • Country Code
    us
  • Title Language Code
    eng
  • Text Language Code
    eng
  • Place of Publication
    University Park, Pa.
  • Pages/Volumes
    177 p.
  • Size
    24 cm
  • Classification
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