Abstract

This is a highly lucid, sensitive study of the problem of human survival. Desan began his analysis with a noetic critique of man in the social order. In the second volume, published now for the first time, he extends this study into the ethical implications of man’s search for a united world. In the context of our own crisis-ridden times, Desan sees a need for a new approach to the problem of human survival. He provides a methodological structure that acts as a corrective to the almost Cartesian egocentricity of Existentialism. A new vocabulary is provided to afford a tolerant recognition to the Other in the social context. Desan feels that Existentialism has not offered an entirely adequate analysis of larger social phenomena, since these were beyond the individual. Desan does employ a phenomenological method, but it is a "descending" one rather than the usual "ascending" method. Instead of analyzing in terms of the individual outward, as in the work of Husserl or Sartre, the "descending" method begins with the larger social reality and works inward.