French Existentialism: Consciousness, Ethics, And Relations With Others

by James Giles (Editor)

Offers a critical appraisal of the school of thought known as French existentialism. Examines the ideas of the major French existentialists, including Beauvoir, Merleau-Ponty, Marcel, Camus, and especially Sartre, in a fresh attempt to elucidate their contributions to contemporary philosophy. Discus

225 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 1999

About the author

James Giles is a philosopher and psychologist who is Lecturer in the University of Cambridge Institute for Continuing Education. He has taught at several universities in different countries. Giles' writings on philosophical psychology, metaphysics, and human relationships, are widely discussed. He is best known for his version of the no-self theory of personal identity, the vulnerability and care theory of love, and the theory of sexual desire as an existential need. Related to this is his 'naked love theory' of human hairlessness. This theory locates the evolutionary origin of naked skin in the ancestral mother's pleasure in skin-to-skin contact with the infant. Naked skin, Giles argues, was one of the preconditions for the appearance of romantic love. Giles' works are typically interdisciplinary and intercultural, drawing such areas as philosophy, psychology, anthropology, and biology, while exploring their expressions in different cultures. Only through such an approach, argues Giles, can we hope to understand the wonder of the human condition.