Europe, or The Infinite Task
What exactly does "Europe" mean for philosophy today? Putting aside both Eurocentrism and anti-Eurocentrism, Gasché returns to the old name "Europe" to examine it as a concept or idea in the work of four philosophers from the phenomenological tradition: Husserl, Heidegger, Patočka, and Derrida. Beginning with Husserl, the idea of Europe became central to such issues as rationality, universality, openness to the other, and responsibility. Europe, or The Infinite Task tracks the changes these issues have undergone in phenomenology in order to investigate "Europe's" continuing potential for critical and enlightened resistance in a world that is progressively becoming dominated by the mono-perspectivism of global market economics. Rather than giving up on the idea of Europe as an anachronism, Gasché aims to show that it still has philosophical legs.
"Gasché is among the top continental philosophers working in the United States, and this sophisticated and stimulating book is perhaps his crowning achievement so far."—Robert Bernasconi, University of Memphis
"In our ironic, post-philosophical epoch, it seems anachronistic and even foolish to write such an exhaustive philosophical treatise—in effect, four books in 412 pages. Despite this, Gasché offers an admirably unified argument thanks to his constant focus on 'question Europe'."—Philosophy in Review