Abstract

Books which are difficult due to their complexity and yet which stand apart as original contributions require special attention. William Desmond’s most recent effort, Being and the Between, is no exception since it displays both of these elements. Desmond’s book is complex because it draws upon so many varied perspectives of the Western tradition and weaves them together into a unique presentation of a central motif: to think the “happening of the between” as the interface of being and truth. At the same time, his book is original insofar as it does not identify with any philosophical school in exclusion of another. Instead, the author formulates an integrated metaphysics of individual and community, self and other, God and creation, which transcends the specialization of contemporary thought.