The Political Ontology of Martin Heidegger - Softcover

Bourdieu, Pierre

Softcover

ISBN 10: 074561714X ISBN 13: 9780745617145

Publisher: Polity, 1996

Synopsis

This book is an important and timely contribution to the debate concerning the relation between Heideggera s philosophy and his political affiliations to Nazism. But it is more than that: it is also a study, by the leading sociologist in France today, of some of the institutional mechanisms involved in the production of philosophical discourse. Drawing on his distinctive methods of analysis, Bourdieu argues that philosophical discourse -- like all discourse -- is the result of an interaction between an expressive drive and the censorship generated by the social field in which it is produced. Hence, to understand Heideggera s work, it is necessary to reconstruct the logic of the philosophical field in early twentieth--century Germany and its relation to the broader social and political fields of the Weimar Republic. In this way Bourdieu is able to shed fresh light on Heideggera s philosophical language and orientation, while steering clear of the partisan judgements adopted by those critics who charge him with an apologetics for Nazism or those who seek to redeem him at any cost. The Political Ontology of Martin Heidegger will be of interest to students and scholars in philosophy, literature, and social and political theory, as well as to anyone interested in the controversy surrounding Heidegger and his links with Nazism.

About this title

Review:

"Probably the best case--study in the sociology of philosophy there has ever been." Radical Philosophy "Bourdieua s book is the single most illuminating contribution to an understanding of the social and political meaning of Heideggera s work. It is extremely stimulating in its methodology, which is an outstanding model of a sociological approach to philosophy, and in the light it casts on the current debate over Heidegger and Nazism. Bourdieua s book stands apart from the other books and articles on the political implications of Heideggera s philosophy by virtue of the originality, clarity, and soundness of its point of view." Jean--Joseph Gouz, Brown University

About the Author:

Pierre Bourdieu was Professor of Sociology at the College de France.

About this edition

• Publisher: Polity
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 074561714X
• ISBN 13: 9780745617145
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 146