It's Not About the Gift

In his fascinating new book, It's Not about the Gift, leading phenomenologist Anthony J. Steinbock intervenes in contemporary debates around the idea of the gift through a set of critical readings in which he situates the gift in the context of interpersonal relations.

While taking op the key figures in the discussion (Heidegger, Derrida, Marion, Henry, Maimonides), Steinbock proposes 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 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.