Exploring the profound question of life's meaning, this book delves into the intersection of philosophy and contemporary thought in a post-modern, post-religious context. Julian Young highlights insights from significant philosophical figures throughout history, providing a rich tapestry of perspectives on existence and purpose. The second edition offers a thought-provoking examination of how these ideas resonate in today's scientific world, inviting readers to reflect on the enduring quest for meaning.
In this beautifully written account, Julian Young provides the most comprehensive biography available today of the life and philosophy of the nineteenth-century German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. Young deals with the many puzzles created by the conjunction of Nietzsche’s personal history and his why the son of a Lutheran pastor developed into the self-styled “Antichrist”; why this archetypical Prussian came to loathe Bismarck’s Prussia; and why this enemy of feminism preferred the company of feminist women. Setting Nietzsche’s thought in the context of his times – the rise of Prussian militarism, anti-Semitism, Darwinian science, the “Youth” and emancipationist movements, as well as the “death of God” – Young emphasizes the decisive influence of Plato and of Richard Wagner on Nietzsche’s attempt to reform Western culture. He also describes the devastating effect on Nietzsche’s personality of his unhappy love for Lou Salomé and attempts to understand why, at the age of forty-four, he went mad. This book includes a selection of more than thirty photographs of Nietzsche, his friends and his work sites. Seventeen of the philosopher’s musical compositions, which are key to a deeper understanding of his intellectual project are available online.To listen to Nietzsche's compositions,
This book offers an insightful introduction to twentieth-century German philosophy, exploring critical theory and phenomenology through key thinkers like Max Weber, Horkheimer, Adorno, and Heidegger. It addresses themes of rationalization, modernity, and the human condition, making it essential for students in various disciplines.
This is the first comprehensive treatment of Nietzsche's philosophy of art to appear in English. Julian Young argues that Nietzsche's thought about art can be understood only in the context of his wider philosophy. In particular, he discusses the dramatic changes in Nietzschean aesthetics against the background of the celebrated themes of the death of God, eternal recurrence and the idea of the Ubermensch. The first chapter deals with Schopenhauer, who, along with Wagner, is viewed as the essential reference point for all of Nietzsche's thought. Young then divides Nietzsche's career, and his philosophy of art, into four distinct phases, but suggests that these phases describe a circle. An attempt at world-affirmation is made in the central phases, but Nietzsche is predominantly influenced at the beginning and end of his career by a Schopenhauerian pessimism. At the beginning and end art is important because it "redeems" us from life. This is a clear and lucid account of Nietzsche's philosophy of art. It combines exegesis, interpretation, and criticism in a judicious balance, and will be essential reading for all scholars of philosophy and German studies with an interest in Nietzsche or aesthetics.
Heidegger's later philosophy has often been regarded as unintelligible
mysticism. While not ignoring its deep and difficult complexities, Julian
Young's book explains in simple and straightforward language just what it is
all about. It will be an invaluable resource for both students and scholars of
Heidegger's works. schovat popis
Since 1945, and particularly since the facts of the "Heidegger case" became widely known in 1987, an enormous number of words have been devoted to establishing not only Heidegger's involvement with Nazism, but also that his philosophy is irredeemably discredited thereby. This book, while in no way denying the depth or seriousness of Heidegger's political involvement, challenges this tide of opinion, arguing that his philosophy is not compromised in any of its phases, and that acceptance of it is fully consistent with a deep commitment to liberal democracy.
Julian Young explores the enduring influence of Nietzsche's early religious communitarianism throughout his entire body of work. The book delves into how this foundational aspect shapes Nietzsche's philosophical ideas and critiques, revealing a consistent thread that connects his thoughts on community and spirituality across various themes and writings. Young's analysis offers a fresh perspective on Nietzsche's evolution as a thinker, challenging traditional interpretations of his philosophy.
This book, the first comprehensive study in English of Heidegger's philosophy of art, starts in the mid-1930s with Heidegger's discussion of the Greek temple and his Hegelian declaration that a great artwork gathers together an entire culture in affirmative celebration of its foundational 'truth', and that, by this criterion, art in modernity is 'dead'. His subsequent work on Hölderlin, whom he later identified as the decisive influence on his mature philosophy, led him into a passionate engagement with the art of Rilke, Cézanne, Klee and Zen Buddhism, liberating him not only from the overly restrictive conception of art of the mid-1930s but also from the disastrous politics of the period. Drawing on material hitherto unknown in the anglophone world, Young establishes a new account of Heidegger's philosophy of art and shows that his famous essay 'The Origin of the Work of Art' is its beginning, not its end.
In this comprehensive introduction, Julian Young covers the major aspects of
Schopenhauer's philosophy. He discusses the central areas of Schopenhauer's
metaphysics, fundamental to understanding his work as a whole.
This reprint of a historical book originally published in 1871 aims to preserve and make accessible classic literature. Acknowledging the potential for missing pages or inferior quality due to age, the publishing house Anatiposi focuses on maintaining the integrity of these works while ensuring they remain available to the public. The initiative emphasizes the importance of historical texts in our cultural heritage.
