A Companion to Heidegger

It is in any case a dubious thing to rely on what an author himself has brought to the forefront. The important thing is rather to give attention to those things he left shrouded in silence. [Heidegger's 'Lecture on Plato's The Sophist,' 1924]

A version of an article for the Dictionary of Literary Biography, originally published as “Martin Heidegger,” in Twentieth Century European Cultural Theorists. Ed. Paul Hanson. Columbia Ca: DLB, 2003.

The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy

Martin Heidegger is widely acknowledged to be one of the most original and important philosophers of the 20 th century, while remaining one of the most controversial. His thinking has contributed to such diverse fields as phenomenology (Merleau-Ponty), existentialism (Sartre, Ortega y Gasset), hermeneutics (Gadamer, Ricoeur), political theory (Arendt, Marcuse, Habermas), psychology (Boss, Binswanger, Rollo May), and theology (Bultmann, Rahner, Tillich). His critique of traditional metaphysics and his opposition to positivism and technological world domination have been embraced by leading theorists of postmodernity (Derrida, Foucault, and Lyotard). On the other hand, his involvement in the Nazi movement has invoked a stormy debate. Although he never claimed that his philosophy was concerned with politics, political considerations have come to overshadow his philosophical work.

Kom, 2022

In this paper, aligning with the focus international researchers have dedicated to Heidegger's major works in order to contribute to the elucidation of his teachings, our intention is to establish a hypothesis grounded in Heidegger's secondary literature spanning his first, second, and third periods of thought. This will be accomplished through an examination of his speeches, presentations, lectures, correspondences, notes, interviews, and the like. Thus, the hypothesis of this paper is aimed at demonstrating that Heidegger's body of work does not constitute a static and definitive delineation of philosophy that commences and concludes in a prescribed manner: instead, it represents a contemplation of the concept of philosophy throughout his entire oeuvre, achieved by engaging in the discourse of philosophy, problematizing metaphysics, and scrutinizing ontology. In this vein, this essay delves into Heidegger's understanding of the relationship between philosophy and metaphysics during his first period of thought, his comprehension of the problem of metaphysics in his second period of thought, and his interpretation of the interplay between ontology and theology/teologics in his third period of thought. The ultimate objective is to shed light on Heidegger's methodology, which underpins both his initial phenomenology and subsequent thought: the method of posing questions. Specifically, the act of questioning has led to a critique of the obscuring of the ontological difference between Sein and Dasein, a critique that delivers an essential disruption to philosophical thought. Consequently, this underscores the necessity of establishing the foundations for the task of thinking.

Continental Philosophy Review, 2003

Gatherings: The Heidegger Circle Annual, 2013

A Companion to Heidegger’s <i>Phenomenology of Religious Life</i>

Continental Philosophy Review, 2007

Martin Heidegger's Beitra¨ge zur Philosophie (Vom Ereignis), a work written between 1936 and 1938 but only published in 1989, is a complicated and problematic work. Although some have suggested it is his second major work after Being and Time, Heidegger knew that this was a text that was ripe for misunderstandings and misinterpretations, and suggested that it only be published in his collected edition, the Gesamtausgabe, after the lecture courses had all appeared. The lecture courses, which he saw as propaedeutics for this work, provide-among other things-a rereading of the tradition from the perspective of Heidegger's concern with being. English language readers have had its difficulties compounded by the translation by Parvis Emad and Kenneth Maly, which appeared in 1999 as Contributions to Philosophy (From Enowning). This translation has occasioned much criticism, since it makes a number of extremely tendentious choices for key terms, and overtranslates to an alarming degree. In large parts the translation is unreadable, unfortunately something that has been carried over into some appropriations of the work. That said, although it is often referenced, there has been relatively little secondary work devoted to this book, and much of what there is seems content to speak like Heidegger in speaking about Heidegger. Although there have been several journal papers, there is, in English, only a single edited book of essays, and an introductory book by Daniela Vallega-Neu. Richard Polt is certainly well-placed to correct this state of affairs. He is the author of the excellent and well-received Heidegger: An Introduction, and cotranslator of the new version of An Introduction to Metaphysics, and the forthcoming Being and Truth, volume 36/37 of the Gesamtausgabe, which includes two very important and politically charged lecture courses from the period 1933-34. He has also edited a couple of useful volumes of essays on Heidegger's work.