Contemporary French philosophy. A study in norms and values

part Part one: The search for significance -- chapter 1 Absurdity. The gulf between man and his world. Camus -- chapter 2 Transcendence. The pursuit of meaning as a necessary but 'useless passion'. Sartre -- chapter 3 Participation. A vindication of being-in-itself as meaningful. Louis Lavelle -- part Part two: The role of reason and the concept -- chapter 4 As mediation between subject and object. Alquié -- chapter 5 As an assimilating force within the world. André Lalande -- chapter 6 As a dissimilating force. Gaston Bachelard and E.Morot-Sir -- chapter 7 The concept as expression. The extraction of provisional meanings from the permanently indeterminate. Merleau-Ponty -- chapter 8 The rejection of 'expressionism'. The 'logos' as the 'rule' of thought. Brice Parain -- part Part three: Norms and values -- chapter 9 Closed and open evolutionary morality. Bergson's The Two Sources -- chapter 10 Involutionary morality. André Lalande -- chapter 11 The creation of values. Raymond Polin -- chapter 12 The contingency of value. Vladimir Jankélévitch -- chapter 13 Detail and atmosphere. René Le Senne -- part Part four: Towards a definition of authenticity -- chapter 14 The instant -- chapter 15 Choice -- chapter 16 The authentic and the everyday. Camus -- chapter 17 Universality and particularity -- chapter 18 Saint-Exupéry.

First published in 1964, this is not just a chronicle or encyclopaedia, but deals thoroughly in turn with meaning, view about reason, and views about values, particularly moral values. The author's knowledge of French literature is extensive and thorough, and a feature of the book is his analysis of the philosophical implications of literary works by Sartre, Paul Valery, Camus and others