Walker Percy and the Crisis of Meaning : Communication in the Ruins

In this book, Justin N. Bonanno builds off of the recent philosophical work on Walker Percy’s writings. While it is valuable to appreciate Percy as a novelist, Bonanno approaches Percy from the perspective of Continental philosophy and the rhetorical tradition. Unpacking the works of several key authors that influenced Percy (e.g. Sartre and Heidegger), Bonanno offers a fresh philosophical account of Percy's ideas concerning the relationship between symbols and existence. In particular, he focuses on how Percy’s ideas emerge from the thought of Ernst Cassirer, Susanne Langer, Jacques Maritain, Jean-Paul Sartre, Gabriel Marcel, Martin Heidegger, Viktor Shklovsky, Søren Kierkegaard, and St. Thomas Aquinas. Acknowledgments Contents List of Figures Chapter 1: Introduction Percy’s Life and Background Key Figures and Philosophical Trends Key Distinctions in Percy’s Semiotic Realism Dyadic/Triadic Signal/Symbol Environment/World Immanence/Transcendence The Contemporary Crisis of Meaning Chapter Preview References Chapter 2: C1 Consciousness and the Epiphany of Meaning The Symbolic Breakthrough and the Presence of Others Cassirer: Philosopher of the Symbol Langer: Analogy and Symbolic Transformation Beyond Idealism and Naturalism Maritain: In Alio Esse Implications for the Crisis of Meaning References Chapter 3: C2 Consciousness and the Unspeakable Self The Unspeakable Self Unspeakability: A Semiotic (and Existential) Predicament Sartre: Being-in-Itself and Bad Faith Marcel: Simulacrum and Homo Viator A Partial Overview of Heidegger’s Being and Time Heidegger: The “As,” the “They,” and the “Reverse Phenomenon” Implications for the Crisis of Meaning References Chapter 4: C3 Consciousness and the Defamiliarization of the God-Man Defining C3 Consciousness Defamiliarization via Art Defamiliarization via Ordeal and the Postapocalyptic Kierkegaard: The Apostle’s Transcendent Authority Aquinas: News as a Type of Knowledge, Faith as a Type of Knowing Implications for the Crisis of Meaning References Chapter 5: Truth and Meaning Nominalism Realism Real Predicates, Real Judgments Implications for the Crisis of Meaning References Chapter 6: Love and Meaningfulness Storge: In Defense of the Familiar Philia: The Interpersonal Context of Truth Eros: The Desire to Know Agape: The Self-Giving Word References Index