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do we ask the great questions? What does it mean to ask so profoundly?
What does it mean for us to ask at all? Michael Gelven confronts these
questions as he explores humans as self-reflecting thinkers. He recognizes
two central phenomena as fundamental: the recognition of our own possibility
lying within our existence and the realization of our suspension between
total ignorance and complete knowledge.
Using concrete analyses, Gelven investigates the questions we ask
that may seem initially unanswerable but are ultimately confronted
through our own self-realization. Asking becomes fundamental when
we shift from relying on projected schemes, such as clocks and calendars
that enable answers to ordinary questions about time, to an ongoing,
nonschematic reflection on our own existence. Not only are Platonic,
Kantian, Nietzschean, and Heideggerian analyses considered, but
so are David's psalms, Auden's poetry, and Shakespeare's plays.
Gelven asserts that fundamental asking is essential to our being:
we must ask greatly first, for the great explains the lesser; the
small does not account for the large. |
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