Reddit Reddit reviews Cartesian Meditations: An Introduction to Phenomenology

We found 2 Reddit comments about Cartesian Meditations: An Introduction to Phenomenology. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.

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2 Reddit comments about Cartesian Meditations: An Introduction to Phenomenology:

u/angstycollegekid · 5 pointsr/askphilosophy

Much like you, I've also recently developed a strong interest in Levinas. I've yet to read him, though, so please take that into account when considering my recommendations.

I recently asked some of my professors and a friend of mine who wrote his master's thesis on Levinas to help me out with getting started. This is what they recommended:

  • This introductory book by Colin Davis has been the most recommended to me. Davis succeeds in the difficult task of executing a clear exposition of Levinas' difficult prose without sacrificing too much of its nuance.
  • Regarding Levinas' own writing, begin with On Escape. This work develops Levinas' fundamental ideas on Being and alterity, demonstrates how he does phenomenology, and reveals his engagement with Heidegger and Husserl
  • The two next best works to read are Existence and Existents and Time and the Other.

    I'm not too knowledgeable of Husserl, so all I can really recommend from him is the Cartesian Meditations, which sort of serves as an introduction to Husserl's own method of phenomenology.

    For Heidegger, the most important work in this regard is certainly Being and Time. If you have the time, I recommend picking up the Basic Writings and reading through most of it.

    On a final note, Levinas was steeped within the Jewish intellectual tradition. Jewish philosophers often emphasize the role of community and social contextuality in general. It might serve you well to read works such as Martin Buber's I and Thou and Gabriel Marcel's Being and Having.

    EDIT: Another good compliment to Levinas is Maurice Merleau-Ponty's Phenomenology of Perception.
u/[deleted] · 1 pointr/askphilosophy

If you want the highlights with the goal of understanding late Merleau-Ponty, I recommend Husserl's "Philosophy as a Rigorous Science" and the Cartesian Meditations, Heidegger's Basic Writings especially the first three chapters but then any others that interest you, some of The Phenomenology of Perception, and maybe "Eye and Mind". I then recommend skipping to the Chiasm chapter of The Visible and the Invisble before reading the whole text.