Love and the Abyss: An Essay on Finitude and Value - Softcover

Ralph D. Ellis

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0812694570 ISBN 13: 9780812694574

Publisher: Open Court, 2004

Synopsis

This book develops the notion of a "culture of narcissism," a concept originally proposed by Christopher Lasch. The author puts forward a coherent theory of the role played by love in human attempts to grapple with the problems of finitude and the experience of the basic value of being universal problems that are especially troublesome in a narcissistic culture such as ours. Ellis suggests that love is a way to experience the finitude of existence in a positive rather than negative way, making possible a resolution of the dilemma of finitude in a non-self-deceptive way. Love includes compassion for others in their vulnerability, and this compassion emotionally intensifies admiration, creating an inspirational appreciation of the intrinsic value of being, directly and intensely experienced as instantiated in others. Paradoxically, compassion for others’ finitude leads to a powerful positive value experience, whereas compassion for one’s own finitude (self-pity) is only negative. When this intensified value experience is then universalized, it is greatly strengthened by its derivation from individualized emotion.

About this title

About the Author:

Ralph Ellis, professor of philosophy at Clark Atlanta University, has authored nine books on the interrelations of emotional experience and philosophical meaning. Professor Ellis earned his Ph.D. in philosophy at Duquesne university and a postdoctorasl M.S. in Public Affairs at Georgia State University.

About this edition

• Publisher: Open Court
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 0812694570
• ISBN 13: 9780812694574
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 271