The Quest For Meaning: Friends of Wisdom from Plato to Levinas

The Quest For Meaning: Friends of Wisdom from Plato to Levinas

One of our most distinguished thinkers, Adriaan Peperzak has masterfully explored the connections between philosophy, ethics, religion, and the social and historical contexts of human experience. He offers a personal gathering of influences on his own work as guides to the uses of philosophy in our search for sense and meaning. In concise, direct, and deeply felt chapters, Peperzak moves from Plato, Plotinus, and the Early Christian theologians to Anselm, Bonaventure, Descartes, Pascal, Leibniz, Hegel, and Levinas. Throughout these carefully linked essays, he touches on the fundamental ideas-from reason and faith to freedom and tradition-that inform the questions his work has consistently addressed, most specifically those concerning philosophy as a practice. Peperzak offers a guided tour through the history of philosophy with a particular set of questions in mind, specifically metaphilosophy concerns about the relationship between faith and reason, philosophy and theology, truth and wisdom. ― ―Modern Theology “Brilliant and wise. . . . It is rare for a book not only to speak about a subject (here ‘wisdom’ and the relationship of philosophy and theology) but to exemplify it . . . all contemporary thinkers will think anew thanks to this book." ---―David Tracy, The University of Chicago Peperzak offers a guided tour through the history of philosophy with a particular set of questions in mind, specifically metaphilosophy concerns about the relationship between faith and reason, philosophy and theology, truth and wisdom. ― ―Modern Theology “Brilliant and wise. . . . It is rare for a book not only to speak about a subject (here ‘wisdom’ and the relationship of philosophy and theology) but to exemplify it . . . all contemporary thinkers will think anew thanks to this book." ---―David Tracy, The University of Chicago Adriaan T. Peperzak holds the Arthur J. Schmitt Chair of Philosophy at Loyola University, Chicago. Among his books are Platonic Transformations: With and After Hegel, Heidegger, and Levinas ; Beyond: The Philosophy of Emmanuel Levinas ; Modern Freedom ; The Quest for Meaning: Friends of Wisdom from Plato to Levinas (Fordham); and Thinking: From Solitude to Dialogue and Contemplation (Fordham).