It's not about the gift

from givenness to loving

Anthony Steinbock

Southern Illinois University

Rowman & Littlefield

2018

Abstract

While taking up the key figures in the discussion (Heidegger, Derrida, Marion, Henry, Maimonides), Steinbock proposes the following: that these discussions of the gift are really not about the gift. He demonstrates, through critical interpretations and phenomenological analyses, how the gift only becomes meaningful in the context of interpersonal loving. The gift is not the point: “it’s not about the gift”. The gift becomes most fully what it is, following Maimonides, in participating with others toward their liberation. The point is the interpersonal relation of lover to beloved, which allows the gift to appear.

Reviews

• Simon Thornton, "A. Steinbock, It's not about the gift" Phenomenological Reviews 4, 2018, pp. 63-63

Cited authors

Heidegger Martin