14. The Mind of Max Scheler, by Manfred S. Frings. ISBN 0-87462-613-7. ©1997. Paperbound. 328 pp. $35
This book is designed to fill a long-standing gap in the general literature of 20th century philosophy in that it offers a comprehensive view of the philosophy of Max Scheler (1874-1928) and opens up substantial discussions that have hitherto been largely overlooked. The book is solely based on the original texts of the German Collected Edition as well as posthumous and untranslated materials. References to English translations have been made whenever available.
The Mind of Max Scheler familiarizes the reader with strains of European thought that are rapidly gaining interest in the Americas, Asia, and Europe itself. Already the pivotal questions, “Who are we?” “What is a human being” reveal the relevance Scheler’s thought has to the self-questioning stance that appears to mark this century’s philosophy as a whole. He also presents us with a cosmic view of what it means to be human, and one is amazed at the scope of his approach that goes beyond his better known European contemporaries Heidegger, Husserl, Ortega, or philosophers of our present time. He addresses spurious value patterns that suffuse the age of capitalism and provides answers, among them, the gleaning of historical textures that are emerging toward the future and through which a lingering awareness of the eternal will eventually surface from the depths of human existence.
About the Author
After Manfred S. Frings had emigrated to the United States some forty years ago, he initiated what turned out to be an international pursuit of the philosophy of Max Scheler. In this, he had also followed in footsteps of Alfred Schütz who had pointed earlier to the profound place that Max Scheler would have in 20th century thought. Since 1970, Manfred Frings has been the editor of the German collected edition of Scheler’s Works (Gesammelte Werke) and director of the Max-Scheler-Archives, Munich and Albuquerque, N.M. (formerly Chicago). He is president of the international Max-Scheler-Gesellschaft, whose seat is at the University of Cologne. Professor Frings taught and lectured at many institutions of higher learning, at home and abroad. A number of his abundant publications on Scheler have been translated into Chinese, Japanese, and French. His work met with several personal expressions of gratitude and recognition, including those of Pope John Paul II and Martin Heidegger.
Marquette University Press
