Existentialism: Basic Writings

by Charles B. Guignon (Editor), Derk Pereboom (Editor)

"An invaluable source for undergraduate courses in continental philosophy." --Giovanna Borradori, Vassar College

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction, Read For School, Textbooks, Anthologies

400 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2001

Reviews

[Trina · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book really helped me understand existentialism. Sartre had me stuck, frustrated and intrigued at the same time. I want to dig deeper into his writing.

[Sashachek · Rating 5 out of 5]

The most important thing I learned from this book is how absolutely washed and pretentious Sartre is.

[kloppy · Rating 3 out of 5]

generally useful. i did get the (probably wrong) impression that Heidegger is the only (properly called) existentialist philosopher worth seriously reading

[Angelica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Had to read this for school but it was really helpful and i enjoyed slowly making my way through it the past couple weeks

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

As far as textbook-like introductions to philosophy go, I was incredibly impressed. In all truth the introductions were much more help than the specific selections. I would have liked to see more background selections (more on Husserl and Hegel for example)but otherwise this was a great textbook for an intro to Existentialism course.

[Liz]

I feel as though I’m cheating by marking this as read. This book, as well as “the myth of sisyphus”, was part of the assigned reading for my philosophy class. I didn’t have time to read all of the excerpts, however, I do plan on re-reading the books to fill in some of the gaps I missed. The content is intriguing and I enjoyed forming my own interpretation on the material, as well as re-reading it with the insight my professor provided during lecture.

[Anthony Herzog · Rating 4 out of 5]

Skipped a lot of readings for class, so I didn't technically ever finish this book, but I don't plan to go back and read these excerpts any time soon. Oops.

But this was a great introduction to existential thinking, and the ability to have all these philosophers' writings in one book helps to also keep one's education on existentialism diverse.

[Oskari · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent primer with excellent selections from key texts of these amazing minds. However, what gives great value to this anthology, it's in the introductions for each section with more in-depth background of the writer's lives and an analysis about the texts and their themes.

[residentemma · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ended up in a mental hospital for 10 days after I read this.

[Vivienne Stroz · Rating 4 out of 5]

The introductions to each philosopher were very helpful, and I felt like all the relevant authors were provided. 4 stars based on enjoyment because I don't like Heidegger at all.

[Sean Sakimukai · Rating 3 out of 5]

solid

[Mia · Rating 3 out of 5]

School books automatically get three stars unless they are exceptionally good or shockingly bad. This one gets 3.5 stars rounded down because I did like some parts quite a bit.

[Brandt · Rating 3 out of 5]

The importance of the use of this book is contained in the title Existentialism Basic Writings . The entire point of combining these writings together appears to be to introduce the readers to the basic writings of the most prominent existential philosophers.
In this second edition, the editors, Charles Guignon and Derk Pereboom have done an exceptional job of cleaning up some of the confusion of the first edition. By adding important background readings from Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit and Husserl's Psychological and Transcendental Phenomenology and the Confrontation with Heidegger (1927 1931): The Encyclopaedia Britannica Article, the Amsterdam Lectures, Phenomenology and Anthropology and Husserl S Marginal Notes in Being and Time and Kant and th..., the editor's trace the origins of the existential thought of the authors.
The editor's also do a remarkable job of explaining what the reader will find in the selected writings. This is of the utmost value to the philosophical reader because it provides an in depth preview to some of the more confusing language that the selected authors use.
I personally found the introduction to Nietszche invaluable. This introduction allowed me to approach Nietzche's writing from a completely different perspective.
If you are interested in existential philosophy, then this book is definitely a noteworthy point to start and build from.

[Nadosia Grey · Rating 3 out of 5]

An ok textbook but not a proper anthology in my opinion. For the price, it provides a basic outline of major figures of both phenomenology and existentialism and that's it. It's the bare essentials which is not particularly favorable if you plan to permanently study this philosophy; all you're provided is basic concepts from selected passages which, at best, allow you to write about basic concepts in essays but rarely anything deeper without seeking out further information. Granted, you can explore deeper themes but this anthology will not help you. The introductions of each author is useful because they succinctly summarize and explain the concepts explored by the authors.

This book is not a long-term investment. I would rather have a more eclectic anthology that's priced higher than a cheap one with only three authors with selective passages. Anyone would be better off just getting the full works from these authors.

[K · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was good for a basic overview of the four mains of existentialism: Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Heidegger, and Sartre. Also included in the second edition are excerpts from Hegel and Husserl in order to better illustrate where existentialism developed from.

As someone who struggles with philosophical writings, I found the author's introductions and summaries of the philosophers to be more illuminating and understandable than the actual excerpts from the philosophers' works. The clarity of Guignon's introductions was much appreciated.

[Joe · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a philosophy text book. It is what it is.

[Shahid · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really insightful book on existentialism if you know nothing about it. This book is more of a springboard towards understandings the topic and to read into it further.

[Shiane Grasso · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorites.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good selection. The preambles to each section are worth the price alone.