My lifelong quest has been to address the problem of nihilism raised so forcefully by the work of Nietzsche in the 19 th century. This nihilism remains, of course, very much manifest in the current world disorder. This quest was indicated in the title of my first book, From Nietzsche to Wittgenstein: The Problem of Truth and Nihilism in the Modern World (1989). In the course of this quest, I...
In this essay, I try to describe the most fundamental dimensions of our human situation, encompassed as it is by astonishing depths and absolute mysteries. Five primary aspects of this situation can be symbolized under the key terms “mysticism,” “holism,”, “logos,” “freedom,” and “hope.” I try to indicate how these dimensions, along with the dialectics of critical social theory, demand that...