23 contributors investigate the meaning of humanism today, its range of perspectives, and how humanists can deal with the challenges of contemporary life and those it will face as the new century approaches. This absorbing collection of original essays examines the abundant variety of historical and contemporary humanist philosophies, with special emphasis on the work of Thomas Aquinas, Immanuel Kant, Soren Kierkegaard, Karl Marx, Friedrich Nietzsche, Martin Heidegger, and Michel Foucault. Focusing on the need for an awareness of humanist tradition, these essays offer blunt, progressive self-appraisals to illustrate how humanism will continue to grow as a vital and compelling intellectual force.

The nature and pursuit of love has been an abiding concern of philosophers. While feelings of love may be universal among human beings, ideas about it are particular to a culture or historical period, ranging from the elitist assumptions of Plato to the pluralistic ideals of the late twentieth century. For some forty years renowned philosopher Irving Singer has written on the nature and pursuit of love. His books include The Pursuit of Love; the monumental three-volume work, The Nature of Love; Mozart and Beethoven: The Concept of Love in Their Operas; and The Goals of Human Sexuality. Singer's approach to love in philosophy, literature, music, and psychology is classical throughout, inasmuch as it arises out of the distinction between eros and agape as conceptual forces that underlie much of the Western tradition. Singer's explorations of Freud and Santayana guide his thinking. Both his historical analyses and his own philosophizing express an abiding respect for the play of imagination in science, literature, and art. Most of the essays collected in this volume were originally delivered in a three-day colloquium at Brock University. Together with other essays written specially for this volume, they reflect Singer's broad interests while also focusing on his key distinction between love as appraisal and bestowal as elements in the definition of love. These provocative essays by nineteen contributors examine a great variety of historical and philosophical topics that deal with the nature and the pursuit of love in the context of Singer's approach. Two interviews with Singer precede the essays, which are followed by his response entitled "A Reply to My Critics and Friendly Commentators".

Synopsis: Goicoechea explains Nietzsche's thesis that the agapeic love of Jesus is humankind's highest affirmation, even for sinners like the author's father, Joe Goicoechea, who lived it out existentially. Already before the Q scholars, Nietzsche saw this love as the essence of the Sermon on the Mount and based his philosophy upon it. Throughout the Catholic tradition agape fulfilled the affection of Empedocles, the eros of Plato, the friendship of Aristotle, and the agape of Plotinus. While, as Anders Nygren shows, modernists protested such syntheses, now postmodernists once again let agape and the four loves contribute to one another. Endorsements: "In this work, David Goicoechea gives us an exhilarating exploration of the role of the father in the lives of Christ and Nietzsche, as well as in his own life." --Tim Madigan, Associate Professor of Philosophy, St. John Fisher College "David Goicoechea offers us a personal tour through his life and the life of agape in Western philosophical thought. This book is both a confession of love and a working out of the problem of love, in sometimes inspiring and sometimes controversial ways. We can agree or disagree with him, but we certainly cannot avoid being engaged by him." --David Galston, Chaplain, Brock University Author Biography: David L. Goicoechea is Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at Brock University, St. Catharines, Ontario. He has published widely in the areas of philosophy of love, existentialism, philosophy of religion, postmodernism, and the history of philosophy.