Monday 22 June 2009

Simon Critchley on Heidegger

The Guardian is currently running a really good series by Simon Critchley giving a basic introduction to the thought of Heidegger, an important 20th German philosopher. As it's so much in the spirit of this blog (though a bit short on jokes), I thought it was worth mentioning. The articles are available here:

Part 1: Why Heidegger matters
Part 2: On 'mineness'
Part 3: Being-in-the-world

3 comments:

watchman146 said...

Thanks for these links. I have tried reading Heidegger. I have tried reading about Heidegger. I can honestly say, I have no friggin' clue what he is talking about.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the links. I'm impressed that the Guardian is running this, I'm all for it. I think Critchley's exposition is somewhat obscure, though, and he could learn a thing or two from you (including a few jokes). Perhaps it's just his choice of subject matter. I'm certainly no closer to valuing Heidigger after reading the blog posts.
Perhaps there is philosophical value in it, but I'm inclined to think it's more on a par with contemplating a tree for a day, or climbing a mountain, than with the use of language to communicate arguments and ideas.

Geoff

watchman146 said...

Heidegger seems to be chasing after the old search for telos. I never understood the relevance of that search.

Ok, so our telos is found in our limitation (mortality). OK, so what? The existentialists come along and say, "Isn't that some crazy absurd mess? Party in Paris!!! WAHOOO!"

But, we have grown beyond all that, I think. I am definitive for myself. OK, so what?

I am not trying to be rhetorical. I am really asking. Why is Heidegger important?