Existing: An Introduction to Existential Thought

Rating:
Summary: Mediocre
Review: I found this text disappointing. Luper has edited the essays of the philosophers and made it difficult to follow the writer's line of thought in many cases. I did like the inclusion of literary works to supplement the theoretical works. It would have been beneficial for Luper to have expanded the sections on "lesser known" existentialists such as Marcel, Merceau-Ponty, Buber, and de Beauvior to offer a fuller view of existential philosophy. His introductions to the works for, the most part, are helpful although occasionally some serve to confuse matters rather than to clarify them. I think a better text can be selected by college professors and that the general reader looking for insight on existentialism would be better served by several selections from each philosopher rather than this coompendium.

Rating:
Summary: A sophisticated and non-patronizing introduction
Review: This book offers sizeable selections from the works of Kiekegaard, Nietzsche, Heidegger and Sartre. It seems great for an introductory class that is more than only a survey class, as the text gives large enough portions of each key author to give a real and lasting sense of their thought. The book also includes many selections from relevant minor figures such as Camus, Jaspers and Marcel to round out the picture. I especially like how the book treats existentialism as serious philosophy, not as fluffy literature (the existentialist literature is kept to a minimum). The book could definitely profit from inclusion of more Beauvoir selections, however--something from Second Sex, to be sure, and certainly more pages from Ethics of Ambiguity as well.