The societal web of life is underpinned by one concept - that of Self and Other - which emerged earlier in this century. The concept has received a new formulation within the field of the phenomenology of life and the human creative condition, finding a foothold, a point of reference that radiates novel, seminal insights. It is nothing other than the creative fulcrum of human functioning. The self-individualisation of the human being, as revealed in the present collection, is existentially and vitally intertwined with that of the Other. Tymieniecka's seminal idea of the `trans-actional' is explored in this collection of essays, which reveals a variety of significant perspectives, weaving the cycles of the human universe of existence in an essential oscillation between the Self and the Other. In this oscillation we throw out our existential tentacles, trying to gain a living space with respect to each other, all the while engaging in a mutual creative prompting and attunement.

It would seem that modern humanity has unthroned the human spirit, undercutting the very foundation of the validity of truth, moral values and principles. There appears to be no attempt to discern what is beautiful and true: it is functional and pragmatic usefulness that seem to dominate human evaluations and transactions with other humans and, indeed, animals. Humanity is becoming detached from the `higher' aesthetic, moral and intellectual works of the human spirit and thus the life of the spirit is often situated on the other side of a gulf, opposed to science with its rationality. Culture is in danger of becoming reduced to science. In other words, the great metaphysical questions - those of telos, of sense - often are answered in terms of scientific conceptions. But these are at least incomplete, if not fragmentary, and in principle hypothetical, which still leaves the questions unanswered. But it is culture that is the manifestation of the human spirit, being the historical process of human self-interpretation-in-existence. All manifestations of the creative forge of the human being find a role in the fabric of culture, which involves progressively widening circles of the human community, demanding an integration and attunement with others in their changing conditions of life. This consideration of culture involves all areas of philosophical reflection: moral, aesthetic, metaphysical, epistemological, semiological, cognitive, and more.

In medicine the understanding and interpretation of the complex reality of illness currently refers either to an organismic approach that focuses on the physical or to a 'holistic' approach that takes into account the patient's human sociocultural involvement. Yet as the papers of this collection show, the suffering human person refers ultimately to his/her existential sphere. Hence, praxis is supplemented by still other perspectives for valuation and interpretation: ethical, spiritual, and religious. Can medicine ignore these considerations or push them to the side as being subjective and arbitrary? Phenomenology/philosophy-of-life recognizes all of the above approaches to be essential facets of the Human Condition (Tymieniecka). This approach holds that all the facets of the Human Condition have equal objectivity and legitimacy. It completes the accepted medical outlook and points the way toward a new `medical humanism'.

Literature reveals that the hidden strings of the human `passional soul' are the creative source of the specifically human existence. Continuing the inquiry into the `elemental passions of the soul' and the Human Creative Soul pursued in several previous volumes of this series, the present volume focuses on the `passions of the earth', bringing to light some of the primogenital existential threads of the innermost bonds of the Human Condition and mother earth. In Tymieniecka's words, the studies purpose to unravel the essential bond between the living human being and the earth - a bond that lies at the heart of our existence. A heightened awareness of this bond should enlighten our situation and help us find our existential bearings.

Medicine's crucial concern with health is perennial, but its reflection, concepts, means change with the advance of science and social life. We present here a fascinating panorama of current medical discussions with their philosophical underpinnings, and queries as they have evolved from the past. The role of Tymieniecka's phenomenology of life is brought forth as the system of philosophical reference.

The challenge presented by the recent tendencies to "naturalize" phenomenology, on the basis of the progress in biological and neurological sciences, calls for an investigation of the traditional mind-body problem. The progress in phenomenological investigation is up to answering that challenge by placing the issues at stake upon a novel platform, that is the ontopoiesis of life.