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Summary: Existentialism for [simpletons] and morons.
Review: ...First of all, if I wanted a text book describing the history of existentialism, I would have bought one. If I wanted a book on faith and reason, I would have bought Aquinas(who Barrett says is "THE EXISTENTIALIST"??!!). If I want a book on the Greeks verus the Hebrews, I would have bought the Republic. If I wanted to learn about everything in this book with out all the fluf and extreme waste of paper, I would buy actual existential authors that have credit and deserve my time and energy(and yours). If you do want a history of existentialism, gets the power house book, "Existentialism: From Dostoevsky to Sartre" by Walter Arlnold Kaufmann. Yeah boy, Barrett may have been the "thang" in the 50's, but its Kaufmann's time to take us to the promise land. Thank you!
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Summary: a good book for those already in the field...
Review: ...However, if you're a beginner, I would suggest picking up something like Camus's 'The Stranger', Kauffman's book on Existentialism, or Szymczyk's 'Toilet: The Novel'. Having said that, the best recourse to understanding Existentialism is experiencing it, know that you are going to one day die, and that in the meantime, there is but one thing left to do: to live.
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Summary: Uugh. It's a neophyte nightmare.
Review: An often good introduction to Existentialism, but a book with several negatives. First, and least important, having been written in the late 1950s, it shows its age. Psychoanalysis was still taken seriously in those days, at least among the literati, and it is given credence throughout the book as an illuminating paradigm. People to whom the disputes between Freud, Adler, and Jung are of any interest are by now a diminishing few, at most. The book's numerous allusions to looming nuclear annihilation are a relic of those "duck and cover" times, and Barrett's repeated criticism of American culture for its materialism, pace, and emphasis on technology, and of Americans for being less philosophically sophisticated than the Europeans, are hackneyed.Barrett is obviously a fan of Existentialism, and the writing tends to be overwrought, with too many concepts and ideas described as `momentous', `crucial', `powerful', `urgent', `profound', and so forth. Part of the problem here is that the fundamental ideas of the Existentialists have become part of the culture during the last 50 years, and they no longer strike today's reader as particularly earth-shattering. Some of that space should have been used to explain basic ideas more clearly. Barrett does not do a good job of elucidating the basic essence-existence distinction, and his presentation of the Problem of Nihilism is unhelpful, for two examples. But the really objectionable thing about the book is its political dishonesty. The chapters on Kierkegaard and Nietzsche contain good biographical detail and specific information about how these men's ideas were reflected in their lives. But there is none of that, suddenly, when we get to Heidegger and Sartre. About Heidegger's background we are told only that he was "of peasant stock, strongly attached to his native region of southern Germany, and one feels this attachment to the soil in his thinking". Blood and Soil? That's appropriate, since Heidegger was an enthusiastic and active supporter of the Nazis during World War II. Did his philosophy cause him to turn to Nazism? Or was it just the inducement of the university rectorship the Nazis gave him? Incredibly, this well-known and despicable history is nowhere analyzed, mentioned, or hinted at by Barrett. In the chapter on Sartre, we learn that "The Resistance came to Sartre and his generation as a release from disgust into heroism" and that "The experience of the Resistance gave the figure of Descartes even greater importance since in the Resistance Cartesianism could be incarnated in the life of action". That makes it sound like Sartre was an active and heroic member of the Resistance, when he was nothing of the kind. Andre Malraux (whom Barrett criticizes for his "military metaphors"!) pointed out with some bitterness that while he was facing the Gestapo as a member of the Resistance forces, Sartre was safely advancing his career in Paris by putting on plays and doing his writing under the auspices of the German censors. Paul Johnson notes that the emphasis on Heidegger in Sartre's work gave him a leg up with the Nazis, and he had no trouble getting his work published and his plays presented. Satre himself said that "We have never been so free as we were under the German occupation". So much for Sartre's release from disgust into heroism. And so much for the ethical content of Existentialism.
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Summary: Existentialism as a way of life
Review: If you are new to philosophy then this book is not for you. To really appreciate and more importantly understand BArret's study you need to have a grounding in the basics and history of Western philosophy as a whole, other wise you will lose the background against which existentialism was set and against which it developed. But if you do have this basic grounding then you are in for a treat. A marvelous book, defining existentialism from all its possible aspects and angles. Barret discusses this philosophy in the works of artists, poets, writers and through the minds of philosophers. Thereby grasping the subject from both realms, the realm of direct experience as shown by Dostoevsky for example, and the realm of philosopical thought as demonstrated by Heidegger. The result, a brilliant exposition of an important, vital subject. And quite possibly the best way to introduce yourself to the subject, and make further reading both more useful and enjoyable. I highly recommend it.
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Summary: Living with despair
Review: IRRATIONAL MAN is a great read for anyone interested in existentialism. William Barrett does not bore, and he covers existentialism from its roots in Hebraism and Hellenism to its development by its most famous spokesman, Jean-Paul Sartre. For Barrett, existentialism is a personal and relevant matter, and he passionately reminds the reader that it is a philosophy for the modern age, an age of atomic weaponry. Though he has only four chapters on particular existentialists (Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Heidegger, Sartre), he also addresses various other figures such as St. Augustine, Descartes, Dostoevsky, and Tolstoy. The scope of this work is vast. The aforementioned "existentialists" have disparate views, but all share the understanding that reason has its limits, that man is alone in the world, and that to live, one must face one's own finitude. Each thinker comes to their ideas from a unique point of view and Barrett connects their ideas with their personal historical context. What we have is a study that is coherent and enlightening, passionate and somehow urgent. But perhaps it is a little too passionate, too grandiose. He has romantic notions of greatness, in art and in thought. Sometimes he seems too sure of his interpretations as well, but it is up to me to go to the original sources he writes about and try his findings against mine. In the end, the very fact that I desire to read directly the works of the four existentialists he writes about shows to me that Barrett has done a fine job, and he has simultaneously clarified and deepened my understanding of existentialism beyond the famous line "existence precedes essence." As an introduction or a supplement, IRRATIONAL MAN is an essential, and entertaining, work.
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Summary: Living with despair
Review: IRRATIONAL MAN is a great read for anyone interested in existentialism. William Barrett does not bore, and he covers existentialism from its roots in Hebraism and Hellenism to its development by its most famous spokesman, Jean-Paul Sartre. For Barrett, existentialism is a personal and relevant matter, and he passionately reminds the reader that it is a philosophy for the modern age, an age of atomic weaponry. Though he has only four chapters on particular existentialists (Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Heidegger, Sartre), he also addresses various other figures such as St. Augustine, Descartes, Dostoevsky, and Tolstoy. The scope of this work is vast. The aforementioned "existentialists" have disparate views, but all share the understanding that reason has its limits, that man is alone in the world, and that to live, one must face one's own finitude. Each thinker comes to their ideas from a unique point of view and Barrett connects their ideas with their personal historical context. What we have is a study that is coherent and enlightening, passionate and somehow urgent. But perhaps it is a little too passionate, too grandiose. He has romantic notions of greatness, in art and in thought. Sometimes he seems too sure of his interpretations as well, but it is up to me to go to the original sources he writes about and try his findings against mine. In the end, the very fact that I desire to read directly the works of the four existentialists he writes about shows to me that Barrett has done a fine job, and he has simultaneously clarified and deepened my understanding of existentialism beyond the famous line "existence precedes essence." As an introduction or a supplement, IRRATIONAL MAN is an essential, and entertaining, work.
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Summary: The Pick of the Litter
Review: Rereading this book for the the first time in ten years, I can see clearly how much it has meant to my understanding -- and how truly excellent it is. Barrett has a profound gift for seeing philosophy in a way that is both adequate -- and accessible. Reading this narrative of the roots and the development of modern existentialism makes it come alive, makes it not just lucid and comprehensible, but exciting. Part of Barrett's advantage is the breadth and quality of his knowledge. I haven't ever "caught him out" -- saying something that I find shallow or silly when he makes reference to literature that I know, etc. Part of his advantage is that he writes really well -- with a kind of invisible clarity. And part of his advantage is that he doesn't feel compelled to cover a lot of old ground -- to repeat the lore of academic philosophy. I will eagerly reread Beyond Technique now, too, which is of similar quality.
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Summary: The Best Introduction to Existentialism--period.
Review: The only reason I was compelled...let me rephrase that for the lovers of Existentialism, the only reason I chose to write this online comment was the baffling number of poor, reader reviews it received from the Amazon population. I do not opine here to convert anyone, nor do I wish to call writers of those responses fools. Rather, I write this to beseech those who are reading Amazon reviews in order to decide whether or not this book is a worthy read, to pay scant attention to said reviews. Please trust me, those responses are not worthy of formal objection. I understand that remark and my approach here are not in the spirit of rationalism--I apologize in advance. However, in virtue of your interest in this particular book, my guess is that you already suspect the insufficiency of formal rational method to exlusively inform your decisions in life. This book is the best general introduction I have read on the subject--And I have read many primers on this subject. It is neither boring nor shallow, a difficult balance. It accomplishes exactly what this genre (philosophy for the lay reader) sets out to do- 1-to accessibly but intelligently explore for the lay reader an intricate web of thought--in this case, a complex approach to life that underscores the inadequacy of Reason to provide conclusive and satisfying answers to human existence, 2-to vitalize that thought by giving just enough context both personally and historically, and 3- to make it unavoidable for the reader to not confront those problems to which the thought responds. In doing this, modern (esp American), life numbing culture is sharply critiqued by Barret which I suspect gives a good clue to many of the negative reader reviews (another non-rational claim) to which I have alluded.
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Summary: Good but a little bit chauvinistic
Review: This book is well written, even by today's standards. Should be used as a text book. The book book also shows how relevant existential philosophy still is even today - with alienation such a persuasive feature in contemporary society existentialism may be more prevalent now then ever. This book is very readable. It will provide the reader with an understanding of the most obscure exitentialists. This book should be a classic in existentialism.
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Summary: very good introduction on existentialism
Review: This was the first book I've ever read on existentialism. In my experience it can be very well read without extensive prior philosophical knowledge. Barrett places the rise of existentialism in it's time and in the context of world history, modernisation, individualism, the changes in religious feelings, and more. By going deep into the lives and work of Kierkegaard, Heidegger, Nietzsche and Sartre, Barrett shows 4 very different representatives of exisitentialism, thus giving the reader a wide perspective on the subject. Barrett is a master in presenting difficult abstract concepts in understandable language. I've found the book both fascinating and inspiring. I can highly recommend it.
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