Within Human Experience

Harvard University Press has partnered with De Gruyter to make available for sale worldwide virtually all in-copyright HUP books that had become unavailable since their original publication. The 2,800 titles in the “e-ditions” program can be purchased individually as PDF eBooks or as hardcover reprint (“print-on-demand”) editions via the “Available from De Gruyter” link above. They are also available to institutions in ten separate subject-area packages that reflect the entire spectrum of the Press’s catalog. More about the E-ditions Program »

By the time of William Ernest Hocking’s death in 1966, his work had significantly influenced a host of strikingly diverse individuals, including Gabriel Marcel, C. T. K. Chari, and the theoretical physicist Frederick Werner. In this first comprehensive study of Hocking’s philosophy, Leroy Rouner explores the key to this wide influence: Hocking’s synoptic understanding of the individual’s interrelationship with nature and society. Describing Hocking’s metaphysical convictions as they developed from his experiences, the author goes on to analyze the way in which these convictions informed Hocking’s views on the serious concerns of human existence, especially religious.