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by John C. Wilhelmsson (Author)
Before she was a saint she was a fine philosopher yet because she was a woman her contributions were ignored. This book asks the question: "Did Edith Stein make any important contributions to philosophy and, if so, what are the implications of them for us today?" It begins with a biography of Stein up until the acceptance of her doctoral dissertation "On the Problem of Empathy" in 1916. It then examines the phenomenology of Stein and, in new research, demonstrates her contributions to 20th century philosophy as a whole. Finally, it looks at the feminist thought of Stein and its direct connection to "The Theology of the Body" of Pope John Paul II. Based upon an award winning thesis, here is a book that finally goes beyond just looking at Stein's thought as a curiosity and instead makes a strong argument for her contributions to philosophy, feminism, and "The Theology of the Body" (www.c2op.com).
Author Biography
The author, John Wilhemsson, is a professor of philosophy at San Jose State University who has made an in-depth study of this remarkable woman's contributions to the body of philosophy. In this small book he seeks to establish that Stein did not merely copy or assist the great male philosophers of her day but in fact had unique and valuable ideas that deserve to be credited. The book is biographical only in a limited sense: the author must give the reader a brief picture of Stein - a child prodigy with unusual empathy and caring for others whose philosophical bent developed when she went to university and studied with the great Edmund Husserl and others. The author rigorously develops his single point: that Stein was a philosopher in her own right whose ideas of phenomenology and particularly of feminism are worthy of recognition, and indeed dovetail aptly with the thinking of Pope John Paul II. -Barbara Bamberger Scott
