Belief and Unbelief: A Philosophy of Self-knowledge

This is perhaps the most widely read of Michael Novak's books. Belief and Unbelief attempts to push intelligence and articulation as far as possible into the stuff of what so many philosophers set aside as subjectivity. It is an impassioned critique of the idea of an unbridgeable gap between the emotive and the cognitive — and in its own way, represents a major thrust at positivist analysis.

Written in a context of personal tragedy as well as intellectual search, the book is grounded in the ...