The Context of Self — (1981)

A Phenomenological Inquiry Using Medicine as a Clue

By Richard M. Zaner

“This is a comprehensive and densely argued landmark study of selfhood, as profound as it is far ranging. No summary can do justice to its detailed development or to the dazzling array of references. Essential for collections serving professionals in philosophy and the life sciences.”

Robert C. O’Brien, Fordham University — Library Journal

“Richard Zaner’s latest book is erudite, stimulating, wise, and downright moving. But in order to address [the self], Zaner finds it necessary to examine an extremely wide range of issues. … The intellectual energy with which Zaner attacks this impressive spectrum of topics is almost audibly communicated by his colorful and idiosyncratic prose.”

Osborne Wiggins, New School for Social Research — Phenomenology and Scientific Newsletter

This study takes up the challenge presented to philosophy in a dramatic and urgent way by contemporary medicine: the phenomenon of human life. Initiated by a critical appreciation of the work of Hans Jonas, who poses that issue as well, the inquiry is brought to focus on the phenomenon of embodiment, using relevant medical writing to help elicit its concrete dimensions.

The explication of embodiment, aided by critical studies and inquiries into medical phenomena (autism, brain injury, terminal illness) make possible the development of the author’s original phenomenological theory of self, and its concrete relationships with the other self. This study attempts not only to show connections among the works of a number of thinkers in terms of central problems, but to demonstrate the mutual relevance of medicine and philosophy through concrete illustrations and analysis.