In Egocentricity and Mysticism, Ernst Tugendhat casts mysticism as an innate facet of what it means to be human-a response to an existential need for peace of mind. This need is created by our discursive practices, which serve to differentiate us from one another and privilege our respective first-person standpoints. Emphasizing the first person fuels a desire for mysticism, which builds knowledge of what binds us together and connects us to the world. Any intellectual pursuit that prompts us to "step back" from our egocentric concerns harbors a mystic kernel that manifests as a sense of awe, wonder, and gratitude. Philosophy, the natural sciences, and mathematics all engender forms of mystical experience as profound as any produced by meditation and asceticism. One of the most widely discussed books by a German philosopher in decades, Egocentricity and Mysticism is a philosophical milestone that clarifies in groundbreaking ways our relationship to language, social interaction, and mortality.

A major study of some of the central and abiding questions of metaphysics and the philosophy of language by one of the most eminent contemporary German philosophers. Originally published in 1976, it was first translated into English in 1982. Ernst Tugendhat was trained in the Heideggerian modes of phenomenological and hermeneutical thinking. Yet increasingly he came to believe that the most appropriate approach was from within the framework of analytical philosophy. This book grew out of that conviction, and as such it brought a fresh perspective to some of the rarely examined assumptions and methods of analysis. Professor Tugendhat begins by showing how semantic analysis related to such 'traditional' conceptions of philosophy as Aristotle's and Kant's, and the manner in which it treats such 'traditional' problems as being and consciousness. From these considerations he develops a systematic, thorough and original theory of reference, predication and individuation, which make it an invaluable resource for anyone with an interest in the philosophy of language.

Ernst Tugendhat's major work, Vorlesungen zur Einfuhrung in die sprachanalytische Philosophie (1976), was translated into English in 1982. Although trained in Heideggerian phenomenological and hermeneutical thinking, Tugendhat increasingly came to believe that the most appropriate approach to philosophy was an analytical one. This influential work grew from that conviction and brought new perspectives to some of the central and abiding questions of metaphysics and the philosophy of language. Presented in a fresh twenty-first-century series livery, and including a specially commissioned preface written by Hans-Johann Glock, illuminating its enduring importance and relevance to philosophical enquiry, this impressive work has been revived for a new generation of readers.

This book seeks to clarify the precise structure of self-consciousness and self-determination and elucidates their significance for our philosophical understanding of self-knowledge and human agency. The analysis challenges traditional models of theoretical self-knowledge and practical self-relation and elaborates an account of rationally grounded responsibility that jointly fulfills the demands of autonomy and authenticity.Tugendhat's study is a unique synthesis of the contemporary Anglo-American philosophical approach with an abiding concern for classical philosophical problems. It brings the methods of linguistic analysis to bear on such epistemological, moral, and metaphysical issues as the meaning and interconnections of self-knowledge, ego identity, rational self-understanding, and freedom of the will.In this context, the views of Wittgenstein, Heidegger, Mead, and Hegel are searchingly examined. The philosophical testimony of Kierkegaard, Freud, Habermas, and others is also presented and weighed.Self-Consciousness and Self-Determination is based on a series of lectures given at Heidelberg. Ernst Tugendhat is currently Professor of Philosophy at the Freie Universitat in Berlin. The book is included in the series Studies in Contemporary German Social Thought, edited by Thomas McCarthy."

Ernst Tugendhat's major work, Vorlesungen zur Einfuhrung in die sprachanalytische Philosophie (1976), was translated into English in 1982. Although trained in Heideggerian phenomenological and hermeneutical thinking, Tugendhat increasingly came to believe that the most appropriate approach to philosophy was an analytical one. This influential work grew from that conviction and brought new perspectives to some of the central and abiding questions of metaphysics and the philosophy of language. Presented in a fresh twenty-first-century series livery, and including a specially commissioned preface written by Hans-Johann Glock, illuminating its enduring importance and relevance to philosophical enquiry, this impressive work has been revived for a new generation of readers.