In Search of Speech - (Explorations in Philosophy and Theology) by Jean-Yves Lacoste (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

Jean-Yves Lacoste is one of the best known French philosophers alive today. Along with Jean-Luc Marion, Jean-Louis Chrétien, and Michel Henry, Lacoste is hailed as a leading figure in the revival of French phenomenology in its engagement with Christian theology. In this highly readable and stylish translation by Oliver O'Donovan, Lacoste's In Search of Speech considers how linguistic events are precisely what enable us to escape the threat of nihilism and to survive in a world now cynically regarded as having entered a phase of 'post-truth.'

In recent decades, language has been reduced by various philosophers, both Anglo-American and European, in treatments that render it abstract, flat, or distant from life. In Search of Speechseeks to do justice to speech in the various ways in which we perform it and in which it confronts us as one or more events. Speech always occurs in the world: it makes things present to us or it makes them absent from us. Speaking, reading, and even being silent, are never wholly free from anxiety, babble, boredom, humour, and concern for others. Liturgical speech deserves particular attention, and even here speech is in danger; for speech can conceal as well as reveal. Lacoste begins with very weak assumptions and slowly, using many examples, and clarifying as he goes along, builds up a rich picture of human speech and the forces that seek to drain it of meaning.

Review Quotes

In Search of Speech lays the groundwork for the recovery of meaningful speech and experience amidst the babble of our times by a kind of open-eyed backtracking into surprising (or perhaps not-so-surprising) resources in the tradition both solemn and light: lectio divina, liturgy, poetry, fiction, humor... The result is a compelling, engrossing, mist-evaporating, page-turning intellectual achievement that speaks deeply to the humanity of those with ears to hear.
Chris Hackett, Saint Meinrad Seminary, USA

This is a truly original work. Drawing deeply from the wells of Husserl and Heidegger, it is anchored in the pairs of intelligence and affection (Befindlichkeit); recognition (connaissance) and theoretical knowledge (savoir); and object and event. A book with enormous interest for philosophers and theologians alike.
Robyn Horner, Australian Catholic University

About the Author

Jean-Yves Lacoste has taught in universities throughout Europe and has held visiting positions at Cambridge University, the University of Chicago, and the University of Virginia

Oliver O'Donovan is Professor Emeritus, Christian Ethics and Practical Theology at the University of Edinburgh