The Saint and the Atheist

This book demonstrates Catalano's wide background and extensive life experience with both key philosophical concepts and their practical relevance as he addresses topics including good faith, the universal singular, and the pervasiveness of freedom in the actions of human beings. Catalano has created a coherent yet wide-ranging collection of ideas, presented in a way that is attractive and accessible to a broad reading public. The Saint and the Atheist is the unique product of a seasoned philosopher eager to share his philosophical reflections with an audience that extends well beyond the borders of professional philosophy. --William McBride, author of From Yugoslav Praxis to Global Pathos: Anti-Hegemonic Post-Post-Marxist Essays In a profound effort to think with and through Sartre and Aquinas, Catalano works out an original and reconstructive reading of these odd bedfellows, one that moves us well beyond both 'the atheist' and 'the saint.' Catalano's emphatic commitment to a corporeal understanding of the human experience is vivid throughout, and his philosophical imagination is rigorous, nuanced, and often poetic. He is, as he has always been, exceptionally good at giving the reader immediate insight into seemingly impenetrable philosophical terms, thanks not least to the power and clarity of his thinking and the inviting and open-textured quality of his writing. Among its many merits, and perhaps above all, The Saint and the Atheist asks the reader to slow down and think--to think hard about things that matter; to think with challenging figures such as Aquinas and Sartre, among many others; to think along with Catalano, too; and, most importantly, to think for oneself. --Matthew Ally, author of Ecology and Existence: Bringing Sartre to the Water's Edge