Edith Stein : A Philosophical Prologue

Why Take An Interest In Edith Stein As A Philosopher?

Stein And Reinach

Logical Investigations: A New Starting-point In Philosophy

The Background History: From Hume To The NeoKantians

The Logical Investigations: What Do We Learn From Experience?

Reinach’s Philosophical Work

Stein’s Progress 1913-1915

1915-1916

Stein On Our Knowledge Of Other Minds

1916-22: The Complexity Of Stein’s History

The Political Dimension

Stein And Husserl

Stein’s Conception Of Individual And Community

What Kind Of Story Is The Story So Far?

Three Conversions

Stein’s Conversion

Philosophy Deferred

Additional Info
Edith Stein lived an unconventional life. Born into a devout Jewish family, she drifted into atheism in her mid teens, took up the study of philosophy, studied with Edmund Husserl, the founder of phenomenology, became a pioneer in the women’s movement in Germany, a military nurse in World War I, converted from atheism to Catholic Christianity, became a Carmelite nun, was murdered at Auschwitz-Birkenau in 1942, and canonized by Pope John Paul II.

Renowned philosopher Alasdair MacIntyre here presents a fascinating account of Edith Stein’s formative development as a philosopher. To accomplish this, he offers a concise survey of her context, German philosophy in the first decades of the twentieth century. His treatment of Stein demonstrates how philosophy can form a person and not simply be an academic formulation in the abstract. MacIntyre probes the phenomenon of conversion in Stein as well as contemporaries Franz Rosenzweig, and Georg Luckas. His clear and concise account of Stein’s formation in the context of her mentors and colleagues reveals the crucial questions and insights that her writings offer to those who study Husserl, Heidegger or the Thomism of the 1920’s and 30’s.

Written with a clarity that reaches beyond an academic audience, this book will reward careful study by anyone interested in Edith Stein as thinker, pioneer and saint