Heidegger: His Life and His Philosophy (Insurrections: Critical Studies in Religion, Politics, and Culture) - Softcover

Badiou, Alain; Cassin, Barbara; Spitzer, Susan; Reinhard, Kenneth

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0231157975 ISBN 13: 9780231157971

Publisher: Columbia University Press, 2016

Synopsis

Martin Heidegger was an ordinary Nazi and a loyal member of the provincial petty bourgeoisie. He was also a seminal thinker of the Continental tradition and one of the twentieth century's most important philosophers. How are we to make sense of this dual life? Should we factor Heidegger's domestic and political associations into our understanding of his thought, or should we treat his intellectual work independently of his abhorrent politics? How does any thinker reconcile the mundane with the ideal or the pursuit of philosophical inquiry with the demands of civic engagement? In Heidegger, Alain Badiou and Barbara Cassin immerse themselves in the philosopher's correspondence with his wife Elfride to answer these questions as they relate to Heidegger and all thinkers vulnerable to the politics of their times. They focus on Heidegger's tormented relationship with his wife, with Hannah Arendt, and with numerous other women, bringing an unusual level of intimacy to his personal and intellectual worlds.

About this title

About the Author

Alain Badiou (PhD, Philosophy, Ecole Normale Superieure) holds the Rene Descartes Chair at the European Graduate School; he also teaches at the Ecole Normale Superieure and the College International de Philosophie in Paris. He is the author of several successful novels and plays as well as more than a dozen philosophical works, including his masterwork, Being and Event (Continuum, 2007), and several Columbia titles, includng Plato's Republic (2013) and Jacques Lacan Past and Present (2016).

Edition details

• Publisher: Columbia University Press
• Publication date: 2016
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0231157975
• ISBN 13: 9780231157971
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 112