Introduction to a Phenomenology of Life

by Renaud Barbaras, Leonard Lawlor (Translator)

In Introduction to a Phenomenology of Life, renowned French philosopher Renaud Barbaras aims to construct the basis for a phenomenology of life. Called an introduction because it has to deal with philosophical limits and presuppositions, it is much more, as Barbaras investigates life in its phenomenological senses, approached through the duality of its intransitive and transitive senses.

Originally published in French (Introduction à une phénoménologie de la vie) Introduction to a Phenomenology of Life first defines the problem of life phenomenologically, then studies the failures of the phenomenological movement to adequately think about life, and finally elaborates a new, original, and productive approach to the problem.

Combining original interpretations and expert readings of philosophers such as Heidegger, Henry, Bergson, and Merleau-Ponty, Barbaras offers a powerful and important contribution to phenomenology and continental thought.

382 pages, Paperback

Published January 4, 2022

About the author

Renaud Barbaras (born in 1955 in Paris) is a French philosopher. He currently teaches contemporary philosophy at the University Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne.

His main interest goes to phenomenology, especially the works of Edmund Husserl, Maurice Merleau-Ponty and Jan Patocka. His latest books and seminars are devoted to the problems posed by what he calls the "phenomenology of life" (phenomenologie de la vie).