John Wild, lifeworld experience, and the founding of SPEP

Robert Scharff

in: Jung (ed), Remembering John Wild, Continental Philosophy Review 44 (3), 2011.

Abstrakt

Greater recognition of the work and influence of John Wild on the development of what we now call Continental Philosophy is well-deserved and long overdue. It is perhaps not too much to say that there would have been no Society for Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy without him. His pioneering contributions to the field and the movement are much greater than a tally of his articles or a list of friends and former students might suggest. The North American reception of the first generation of European existentialists and phenomenologists was decisively shaped by many of Wild’s early formulations of their problems and projects. And on a personal note, I am happy to declare how deeply affected I was by his seminars on Aristotle, Heidegger, and phenomenology at Northwestern, and by the mentoring I received from him there in less formal settings. The Northwestern Philosophy Department was a good place to be in the 1960s.

Cited authors

Heidegger Martin

Wild John