Abstract

In introducing existentialism should one proceed by presenting a separate treatment of each existentialist or should one attempt to identify and isolate the principal themes of existentialism and interrelate the specific contributions of the major figures in the movement to the development of each theme? Professor Sanborn in this introduction inclines toward the latter method. She has organized the work according to the ontology, theory of knowledge, ethics, social philosophy, and philosophy of religion of the major existentialists. In these areas she has dealt with the insights of Kierkegaard, Heidegger, Jaspers, Marcel and Sartre. While this method does allow the reader to consider each topic from several viewpoints, it does seem to have two serious limitations. It prevents the reader from appreciating the manner in which an existentialist’s ontology and epistemology often profoundly affects his ethics and his philosophy of religion or vice versa. The reader has to wait until chapter seven to discover how Sartre’s atheism lies at the root of his doctrine of freedom even though earlier chapters make many references to this doctrine. The basic unity of Sartre’s thought is thereby obscured whereas a separate treatment of each existentialist could preserve and disclose this unity, and still could include comparisons with other existentialists on some themes. A second limitation in this introduction is that it usually and almost necessarily because of the restrictions of space permits only a fragmentary consideration of the view of each existentialist on each theme.