Martin Heidegger
Richardson, William J.
A fresh appreciation of Heidegger MARTIN HEIDEG6ER George Steiner Viking, $10.95 173 pp. William J. Richardson THE COMPREHENSIVE title of this little volume suggests both its scope and its...
...The latter word is rendered also by alternate terms such as "extant," "essent," and especially "existent" that, given Heidegger's idiosyncratic use of the word "existence," can only mislead the reader...
...14 March 1980: 157...
...Add to this a failure to translate with orthographic consistency such key words as Sein (Being) and Seiendes (being), capitalizing now one, now the other...
...Proceeding "upstream" as he says, the author comes in his second chapter to an overview of Heidegger's major work, Being and Time...
...The purpose of his first chapter ("Some Basic Terms") is to sketch the fundamental problematic of Heidegger precisely in terms of its formulation in this later work and thereby to acquaint the reader with the sense of his characteristic terminology...
...Candidly admitting the limits of his competence in terms of technical philosophy, the author, whose own field is that of the study of language and its relation to literature on the one hand and to the history of ideas on the other, brings a freshness of view to the Heideggerian text that is invigorating...
...In sum, this work has much to recommend it despite several limitations...
...Such a reading, however, overlooks the primacy of the Being question in the analysis and fails to take account of the centrality of time in the whole problematic...
...His earlier insistence on the "theological" tone of Heidegger's work is mitigated somewhat by a later concession that Heidegger would "repudiate" the charge, a concession that then permits him to claim that Heidegger's effort is a "post-theology" (p...
...It is time, after all, that gives sense to the book's title and eventually (by Heidegger's own testimony) plays an essential role in the famous "turning" (Kehre...
...Particularly annoying is the author's failure (no doubt in deference to the essay style) to give the source of his citations, so that there is absolutely no way for the reader to verify them or situate them in their context...
...The book's merits are several and real...
...35), leave the impression that the author reads Heidegger through Sartre's eyes...
...The treatment is not systematic, but it is wide-ranging and all the essentials are there: Heidegger's efCommonweal: 156 fort to think Being by thinking the foundations of metaphysics, his debt to the early Greeks in this endeavor, his insistence upon the importance of meditating the meaning of language in this quest, etc...
...Again, we are told that "It is [care] that makes human existence meaningful...
...William J. Richardson THE COMPREHENSIVE title of this little volume suggests both its scope and its limitations...
...The result is a provocative essay that might be described, in imitation of the author's own preface, as "In Place of an Introduction...
...In concluding his treatment of Being and Time, the author seizes the occasion of his discussion of history and historicity to discuss Heidegger's political involvement with Nazism, finding this involvement not only reprehensible in itself but the philosopher's subsequent silence about it "very nearly intolerable...
...Here again the most stimulating aspect of his treatment is the freshness of vision that he brings to texts that have become classical, almost stereotyped, for the professional philosopher...
...All in all, however, the impression of the book is positive and helps the reader to an appreciation of Heidegger that is, in the end, quite balanced: "In the forest clearing to which his circular paths lead, though they do not reach it, Heidegger has postulated the unity of thought and of poetry, and of that highest act of mortal pride and celebration which is to give thanks...
...He might find it easier to show that there is nothing in Sein undZeit to prevent a surrender to Nazism, and this charge would be serious enough...
...He does not show this in detail, however, and some maintain that he would be hard pressed to do so...
...The author's judgment is harsh...
...Here the author is completely and emphatically at home, with the result that this is by far the most satisfying part of the book...
...The implicit vision is one of vehement humanity, endowed with that somber zest characteristic of Augustine, of Pascal, of Kierkegaard.'' Accordingly, for Steiner Being and Time is essentially ' 'ontological 'anthropology'" that reaches its "apex" in the analysis of Dasein as Being-unto-death, after which the "organic cohesion" of the analysis seems to disappear...
...Frequent allusions to Sartre, especially the reduction of Heidegger's Nichts to Sartre1 sneant (p...
...There are meaner metaphors to live by...
...He begins in unorthodox fashion with a commentary on an essay of the later Heidegger, What is Philosophy...
...In the third chapter, "The Presence of Heidegger," the author returns to the later period to orchestrate the themes that are characteristic of it: poetry, art, creativity, the challenge of modern technology, etc...
...Its scope includes the whole of Heidegger from beginning to end, both as philosopher and as person...
...1955) and then works backwards through the Heideggerian corpus to the landmark work, Being and Time (1927...
...In his exposition, the author tries to be as even-handed as possible, presenting the issues with detachment, taking sides with neither Heidegger's highly partisan sympathizers nor his equally vehement critics...
...156...
...But such a vision will not go without challenge, especially when it is the "existential" aspect of Heidegger's analysis that seems to interest the author most...
...In particular, he asserts: "There were instrumental connections between the language and vision of Sein undZeit, especially the later sections, and those of Nazism...
...Its limitations are those of the essay format that permits the author to share with the reader a number of personal (often astute) insights into the meaning of Heidegger for contemporary thought but, once having piqued the reader's interest, provides him with little to gratify it...
Vol. 107 • March 1980 • No. 5
