"The possibilities for philosophy have never been greater and more fruitful than now - and never more tragically squandered. Philosophy can become relevant once again, suggests Pedro Blas Gonzalez, if we drop the pointless analytical hair-splitting and self-referential word play, and the game of using it in an intellectual refutation of reality. No amount or degree of fashionable 'theory' can succeed in negating reality ... rather, philosophy's gifts shine through when we ask it to offer insight into questions of vital concerns for individuals. Despite the efforts of positivist thinkers to apply the methods of science to human consciousness, science and the humanities are not the same ... In a series of essays, Gonzalez takes a fresh look at the notion of subjectivity and the nature of the self, through the lenses of Phenomelogy, Existentialism, and philosophical aspects of literature."--Page 4 of cover.