does history produce discernible meaning are human struggles intelligible these questions form the startingpoint for the second volume of sartres critique of dialectical reason drafted in 1958 and published in france in 1985 this magisterial work first appeared in english in 1991 and now reappears with a major new introduction by fredric jamesonvolume twos theoretical framework is a logical extension of the predecessors as in volume one sartre proceeds by moving from the simple to the complex from individual combat through a perceptive study of boxing to the struggle of subgroups within an organized group form and finally to social struggle with an extended analysis of the bolshevik revolution the book concludes with a forceful reaffirmation of dialectical reason of the dialectic as that which is truly irreducible in action