Description
The great Danish philosopher and theologian K. E. Logstrup (1905-81) offers a distinctive assessment and comparative critique of two key thinkers in Kierkegaard's and Heidegger's Analysis of Existence and its Relation to Proclamation (1950). Logstrup focuses on the central idea from Kierkegaard and Heidegger that our individuality and authenticity are threatened by 'life in the crowd' or 'das Man'. According to Logstrup, Kierkegaard holds that the only way to escape the crowd is through a relation to an infinite demand which he nonetheless leaves empty, while Heidegger avoids offering any kind of ethics at all. Arguing against both philosophers, Logstrup himself proposes an ethic which is not just a set of social rules, but which is also more contentful than Kierkegaard's infinite demand: namely, the requirement to care for the other person whose life is placed in your hands. This call to care for the other person becomes central to Logstrup's position in his most famous publication The Ethical Demand (1956), so this earlier work, based on lectures given in Berlin, provides a crucial insight into the development of his thought. This is the first English translation of an original and compelling text by Logstrup, rendered into accurate prose and paired with an introduction which explains the main themes and wider context of the work.
About the Author
Robert Stern is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Sheffield, where he has worked since 1989. He was previously a student and then Junior Research Fellow at the University of Cambridge. He has published extensively on Kant, Hegel, and transcendental arguments, as well as on accounts of moral obligation. He recently published the first monograph in English on Logstrup, entitled The Radical Demand in Logstrup's Ethics (Oxford 2019).
Reviews
In January 1950, the Danish philosopher and theologian K.E. Logstrup delivered a series of lectures at the Freie University in West Berlin. Originally published in German at the time, and now here appearing in English as part of a four-volume series of his key works translated by Robert Stern and others, the result is one of the finest comparative studies of Kierkegaard and Heidegger ever written. There is the old adage about Logstrup which works engaging him inevitably reference when observing his importance to Denmark but relative obscurity elsewhere: verdensberomt i Denmark ("world-famous in Denmark"). No longer! With this eminently readable English translation from Robert Stern and colleagues, the long overdue reception of one of the twentieth century's great thinkers has finally begun. * Steven DeLay, Old Member, Christ Church, Oxford, The Review of Metaphysics *
Book Information
ISBN 9780198855996
Author K. E. Logstrup
Format Hardback
Page Count 160
Imprint Oxford University Press
Publisher Oxford University Press
Weight(grams) 374g
Dimensions(mm) 242mm * 160mm * 14mm
About the Author
Robert Stern is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Sheffield, where he has worked since 1989. He was previously a student and then Junior Research Fellow at the University of Cambridge. He has published extensively on Kant, Hegel, and transcendental arguments, as well as on accounts of moral obligation. He recently published the first monograph in English on Logstrup, entitled The Radical Demand in Logstrup's Ethics (Oxford 2019).
Reviews
In January 1950, the Danish philosopher and theologian K.E. Logstrup delivered a series of lectures at the Freie University in West Berlin. Originally published in German at the time, and now here appearing in English as part of a four-volume series of his key works translated by Robert Stern and others, the result is one of the finest comparative studies of Kierkegaard and Heidegger ever written. There is the old adage about Logstrup which works engaging him inevitably reference when observing his importance to Denmark but relative obscurity elsewhere: verdensberomt i Denmark ("world-famous in Denmark"). No longer! With this eminently readable English translation from Robert Stern and colleagues, the long overdue reception of one of the twentieth century's great thinkers has finally begun. * Steven DeLay, Old Member, Christ Church, Oxford, The Review of Metaphysics *
Book Information
ISBN 9780198855996
Author K. E. Logstrup
Format Hardback
Page Count 160
Imprint Oxford University Press
Publisher Oxford University Press
Weight(grams) 374g
Dimensions(mm) 242mm * 160mm * 14mm
