Books by Eli Friedlander

Provides an afterlife for the Reveries in modern philosophy. This book constitutes an alternative to the analytic tradition's revival of Rousseau, primarily through Rawls' influential vision of the social contract. It also counters the fate of Rousseau's writings in the continental tradition, determined by and large by Derrida's deconstruction.

Kant's The Critique of Judgment laid the groundwork of modern aesthetics when it appeared in 1790. Eli Friedlander's reappraisal emphasizes the internal connection of judgment and meaning, showing how the pleasure in judging is intimately related to our capacity to draw meaning from our encounter with beauty.

Walter Benjamin is often viewed as a cultural critic who produced a vast array of brilliant, idiosyncratic pieces of writing with little more to unify them than the feeling that they all bear the stamp of his "unclassifiable" genius. Eli Friedlander finds an overarching coherence and a deep-seated commitment to engage the philosophical tradition.