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Michael Gelven – Winter, Friendship, And Guilt – The Sources Of Self-Inquiry (1972)Paperback: 238 pagesPublisher: Harper & RowLanguage: EnglishISBN-10: 0061317381It is usually admitted that men can reason about events; and it is sometimes even admitted that men can reason about what is right and wrong; but it is rarely admitted that men can reason about the meaning of their own existence. That one can wonder about one’s own existence, or ruminate about it idly in the mind, or feel it somewhere in the depths of the heart, these activities are obvious. But that human intelligence can in any way impress the authority of reason upon its speculations about the meaning of existence seems unlikely. It is the purpose of this inquiry to establish those dimensions of human understanding and reasoning which not only make the inquiry into the meaning of existence possible but render articulate those procedures used by great thinkers who have indeed cast rational and nonarbitrary illumination on the problem of the meaning of our existence.The most ardent advocate of the powers of reason in science and morals often finds his support of these powers waning considerably when he tries to use them to illuminate the meaning of existence. A partial reason for such lessening of advocacy is the apparent lack of any philosophical account of how such reasoning might proceed. For it is the unique and exciting taskof philosophy to uncover those powers or conditions by which we perform those acts of the mind which characterize us as thinking and rational beings. In this work of philosophy, then, I seek to do two things: first, to show that the great thinkers of western philosophy have indeed provided ample accounts of such reasoning; and second, with the help and inspiration of three of these thinkers, to render a former and methodological account of the way in which the mind can and does operate in seeking to establish, with the authority of reason, an understanding of the meaning of human existence. As such this work is both historical and innovative; and its structure elucidates this twofold approach. The central core of this inquiry consists of six chapters, three dedicated to speculative interpretations of the philosophies of Plato, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Martin Heidegger. Corresponding to and following each of these chapters is one concerned with the development of the theme elicited from the reading of these thinkers; thus, corresponding to the chapter on Nietzsche I discuss the idea of unnatural meaning, suggested by our experience of winter. Corresponding to the chapter on Plato’s thought is one developing the role that love or friendship plays in the illumination of human meaning; and finally, corresponding to the chapter on Heidegger is an analysis of guilt.Scanned by Redepe. Thank you!