Irrational Man: A Study in Existential Philosophy

Widely recognized as one of the finest introductions to existentialist philosophy ever written, Irrational Man helped introduce existentialism to an American audience when it was first published in 1958.

Barrett writes with eloquence and clarity about concerns that remain as relevant today as ever: the persistence of the irrational and absurd, the search for meaning in a fractured world, and humanity's capacity to shape or destroy its own future without fully understanding the meaning of its existence.

Irrational Man traces the roots of existentialism through the work of figures including Augustine, Aquinas, Pascal, Baudelaire, Blake, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Hemingway, Picasso, Joyce, and Beckett. At its core is a lucid exploration of the ideas of Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Heidegger, and Sartre. The result is both an enduring introduction to existentialism and a compelling account of its influence on modern thought and culture.

William Barrett is widely known as one of the first philosophers to introduce existentialism to America. Besides a long and distinguished career as a professor of philosophy, he was editor of Partisan Review and the literary critic for Atlantic Monthly. Barrett authored The Illusion of Technique and The Truants, among other books. He died in 1992, at the age of 78.