The Zen thinkers dealt with are Dogen and Nishitani, and the Western thinkers are Derrida, Lacan, Heidegger, Lyotard, Foucault, Deleuze and Guatarri, Kristeva, and Levinas. Although each share similar notions concerning the shortcomings of representational thinking, major differences still exist. By clarifying these differences, Olson counters the tendency to overtly assert or covertly imply that postmodern and Zen philosophies are moving in the same direction. Some postmodern thinkers and Zen Buddhist philosophers share common philosophical ground with regard to a mutual philosophical attack and attempt to overcome the perceived shortcomings of the representational mode of thinking that conceives of the mind like a mirror and assumes a correspondence between appearance and reality that is supported by a metaphysical structure. I was so excited by this work that I could hardly bear to put it down.
Every page is replete with fresh insight.
It is rare to discover a writer who is not only conversant, but also clearly expert in both the postmodern and Zen traditions. Olson's scholarship is impressive. His competent and detailed analyses elucidate both traditions. One can never approach either tradition in the same way again. The book approaches representational dualism with penetration and depth, and helpfully illuminates both the postmodern and the Zen traditions.