Being Given: Toward a Phenomenology of Givenness

by Jean-Luc Marion, Jeffrey Kosky (Translation)

Along with Husserl's Ideas and Heidegger's Being and Time , Being Given is one of the classic works of phenomenology in the twentieth century. Through readings of Kant, Husserl, Heidegger, Derrida, and twentieth-century French phenomenology (e.g., Merleau-Ponty, Levinas, and Henry), it ventures a bold and decisive reappraisal of phenomenology and its possibilities. Its author's most original work to date, the book pushes phenomenology to its limits in an attempt to redefine and recover the phenomenological ideal, which the author argues has never been realized in any of the historical phenomenologies. Against Husserl's reduction to consciousness and Heidegger's reduction to Dasein , the author proposes a third reduction to givenness, wherein phenomena appear unconditionally and show themselves from themselves at their own initiative. Being Given is the clearest, most systematic response to questions that have occupied its author for the better part of two decades. The book articulates a powerful set of concepts that should provoke new research in philosophy, religion, and art, as well as at the intersection of these disciplines. Some of the significant issues it treats include the phenomenological definition of the phenomenon, the redefinition of the gift in terms not of economy but of givenness, the nature of saturated phenomena, and the question "Who comes after the subject?" Throughout his consideration of these issues, the author carefully notes their significance for the increasingly popular fields of religious studies and philosophy of religion. Being Given is therefore indispensable reading for anyone interested in the question of the relation between the phenomenological and the theological in Marion and emergent French phenomenology.

Genres: Philosophy, Theology, Ebooks, France

408 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

About the author

Jean-Luc Marion est un philosophe et universitaire français.

Jean-Luc Marion is a French philosopher and academic.

Reviews

[Larry · Rating 2 out of 5]

Basically Kant’s third Critique rewritten in Phenomenology style with shit examples, a poor reading of Heidegger’s late works and a mildly interesting theory of anamorphosis, which however falls short of being accurate for want of considering the most obvious anamorphic non-being of all: the sign. Hugely overrated, much too long, hard to finish.

[Gab Nug · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read as an integral text for my graduate thesis.

As the second installation of Jean-Luc Marion's phenomenological trilogy, this particular text serves as the bulk of his broadening the phenomenological horizon. Understandably, this work is dense and written in a very matter-of-fact style. The depth with which he builds upon his predecessors leaves few stones unturned as offers thorough arguments justifying his expansions and departures, while also anticipating possible objections. Oddly, in the midst of this dense text, Marion remains poetic in his descriptions and examples that aid in the explanation of these well-thought concepts. By means of this work, Marion claims to have opened the possibility of exceeding metaphysics a phenomenology contextualized around givenness. I look forward with excitement to round out his trilogy and also explore the avenues by which he can apply such phenomenology to the theological field.

P.S. For some reason the binding of my book was horrendous and every third page, without exception, came loose and fell out. Talk about a bummer...

[Matt K · Rating 5 out of 5]

I didn't really understand a word of it though.

[Vince Eccles · Rating 1 out of 5]

Jean-Luc Marion has ground breaking ideas in phenomenology. However, his writing is tragically laborious. A brilliant physicist and theologian, whom I respect greatly, gave me warning against reading some authors. "Don't read the his books. Read others that write about his books."

[Rodney Bond · Rating 1 out of 5]

A 1997 book by a philosopher talking about why other philosophers were wrong, while trying to precisely define "existence" through the use of an imprecise language.

[Alex Lee · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a fairly dry work, one of academic decadence. Here, Marion uses the figure of the given in order to introduce an immanent threshold by which we can recognize the birth of subjectivity wherein even subjecthood can be seen as a kind of given, as a disruptive regularity of the given phenomenal experience. This reverses the trend with phenomenology before, where Being and agency was determined by what was metaphysically ubiquitous as categorically untouchable. But since such categories are timeless and offer very little by which the irregular regularity of subjectivity can "hang onto" so Marion finds purchase with the given that must be abandoned in order to give rise to the experience of what becomes recognized as subjectivity.

This is a clever book. It is well researched. It is also pretty boring in that it merely adds another wrinkle in a familiar tradition by stating what we already know. The methodology is one of categorical refinement shuffling subjectivity into another corner. This work has very little use except as another call for the author and other academics to redeploy themselves in hierarchical arrangement to one another. Teleologically we know that there is a need for subjectivity (it must fit somewhere) and given the framework of contingency raised to a universal position for disseminating difference, where else do we think Marion would hang subjectivity? Except as the masterful stroke in a system he is espousing, of course!

I give this book three stars because it appears to be carefully written with plenty of documentation for Marion to show off his erudite sophistication. Other than that, it's just another philosophical masturbation piece for another philosopher to show off how good he is. What a boring display of rhetorical prowess.

[Bradley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read most of this - think I need to re-read Husserl and Heidegger to bone up on phenomenology. Most of it went right over my head... plus, its really dry reading so its a tough go.

I like his main thesis however, that to really transform the world, one need not even address the Marxist questions (ending class conflict) but the question of radically altering our day to day ontology to bring about a phenomenology of 'givenness'... Taking this book out of the library was a mistake.. One should really own it and re-read it several times to get the full effect. Marion is an under-appreciated genius... answers my question from the Agamben review - there are brilliant philosophers doing solid work in the world today... Marion is one of them, Agamben... not so much in my opinion. For some reason, Marion is almost never talked about, yet Agamben is repeatedly discussed at the conferences I go to. Strange, because Marion has a quite uplifting and optimistic message whereas Agamben is all way too pessimistic for my tastes. Neg-head downer bs. is not really what Being Given is all about.

Life is a gift, given by God. Once that is understood, living ethically towards one another should be easy. At least that's my reading of this text. Could be wrong :)

[Shaun · Rating 3 out of 5]

A phenomenological look at givenness where being given is part of the process of gaining subjectivity. Not my cup of tea when it comes to phenomenology, but an interesting interpretation of subjectivity nonetheless.