Richard J Colledge | Australian Catholic University (original) (raw)

Articles & Book Chapters by Richard J Colledge

New Yearbook for Phenomenology and Phenomenological Philosophy, 2023

Recent years has seen an accentuation in claims that early Heideggerian works are infected with t... more Recent years has seen an accentuation in claims that early Heideggerian works are infected with totalitarian ideas that came to full realisation in the early 1930s. In challenging this claim, I suggest that the trajectory from Geschichtlichkeit and Mitsein in Being and Time to Heidegger's later lamentable political involvements is both complicated and tenuous. After first defending this stance with reference to the account of Schuld in Being and Time, I draw substantively on the work of Jean-Luc Nancy in arguing that Heidegger's later political thought amounts to a perversion of his earlier admittedly underdeveloped accounts of Geschichtlichkeit and Mitsein. Further, with Nancy, I suggest there is much to be learned here more generally-both by Heidegger's great insights and great failures-concerning the dialectic of self and community.

The New Yearbook for Phenomenology and Phenomenological Philosophy, 2023

This Editors' Introduction (by Richard Colledge and Claude Romano) surveys the collection of essa... more This Editors' Introduction (by Richard Colledge and Claude Romano) surveys the collection of essays titled "Heidegger & Contemporary French Philosophy" forthcoming in The New Yearbook for Phenomenology and Phenomenological Philosophy, Vol 21, 2023.

Journal of the British Society for Phenomenology, 2023

The complexities of Heidegger's early accounts of nature provide a privileged perspective from wh... more The complexities of Heidegger's early accounts of nature provide a privileged perspective from which to understand the evolution of his thought into the 1930s and beyond. This evolution seems largely driven by the need to respond to what Karsten Harries has characterized as "the antinomy of being". In Heidegger's early writings, Natur is associated with both the theoretical and the "intraworldly." However, less attested is a third "unworlded" and thus intrinsically "incomprehensible" sense of nature, as the abyssal ground of worlding. This thread is traced through key texts from the Marburg period, into Being and Time, and beyond it into the 1928 "metontology" appendix and its surprising transformation in the 1929 inaugural lecture. Finally, some cursory observations are made about how this trajectory plays out in later Heidegger thought, taking the 1936 Artwork essay as a key example. In this way, both sides of the antinomy of being come to be incorporated within a more comprehensive framing of the Seinsfrage.

Astonishment and Science. Engagements with William Desmond, 2023

An engagement with William Desmond’s paper, “The Dearth of Astonishment: On Curiosity, Scientism,... more An engagement with William Desmond’s paper, “The Dearth of Astonishment: On Curiosity, Scientism, and Thinking as Negativity”

American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly, 2021

This paper looks to make a small contribution to the critical engagement between philosophical Th... more This paper looks to make a small contribution to the critical engagement between philosophical Thomism and phenomenology, inspired by the recent work of the German phenomenologist and hermeneutic thinker Günter Figal. My suggestion is that Figal’s proposal for a broad-based hermeneutical philosophy rooted in a renewed realism concerning things in their externality and “objectivity” provides great potential for a renewed encounter with Thomist realism. The paper takes up this issue through a brief examination of some of the more problematic idealistic features of Kantian and Husserlian thought, before turning to consider how these aspects of the tradition are reframed within Figal’s phenomenological realism. The Thomist position concerning the relation between things and their understanding (including the complex matter of the verbum mentis) is then raised, drawing both on Aquinas’s own texts and the interpretations of Jacques Maritain. Some striking emerging affinities between this tradition and Figal’s hermeneutic phenomenology are noted.

The Review of Metaphysics, Vol. 74(2), 289-319, 2020

Heideggerian thought is routinely understood to involve an insistence on finitude, and a rejectio... more Heideggerian thought is routinely understood to involve an insistence on finitude, and a rejection of the metaphysical priority of the infinite. As a general rule, this characterization is adequate, but it risks a significant oversimplification of a complex theme in Heidegger’s thinking. After an initial discussion of his dominant position on (in)finitude, the paper focuses on a number of largely neglected and some recently published texts concerning Heidegger’s retrieval of the inheritance of the Greek and Latin grammar of Being, as well as the origins of the idea of the infinite in Anaximander’s ἄπειρον. These texts reveal some important tensions in Heideggerian thought on the status of infinitude in its relation to die Sache selbst of that thought.

Chris Doude van Troostwijk and Matthew Clemente (eds), Richard Kearney's Anatheistic Wager: Philosophy, Theology, Poetics, Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 125-141, 2018

Over the past couple of decades, Richard Kearney and William Desmond have developed kindred but s... more Over the past couple of decades, Richard Kearney and William Desmond have developed kindred but strikingly different philosophical theologies that draw on distinct, if at times overlapping, traditions within the history of philosophy and contemporary Continental philosophy. The relationship between their respective bodies of thought is both fascinating and important, and their dialogue is one of the richest in contemporary Continental philosophy of religion. This paper looks to provide a necessarily cursory interpretation of their relationship: both the extensive kinship between their respective bodies of work (I argue that Desmond is himself an anatheist, as much as Kearney is a metaxologist) and an equally deep rift between them (concerning the relative priority accorded to the archaeological “is” and the eschatological “may be”). Given the constraints of space, my focus is more on the former than the latter, for I suspect that their differences may be more appreciated than their striking points of kinship. Further, in discussing major points of difference, I focus largely on suggestions concerning the potential for each approach to challenge the other.

Symposium 18 (2), 33-53, 2014

Set in the context of the current interest among Analytic philosophers in the “epistemology of di... more Set in the context of the current interest among Analytic philosophers in the “epistemology of disagreement”, this paper explores the meta-philosophical problem of philosophical incommensurability. Motivated by Nietzsche’s provocative remark about philosophy as prejudices and desires of the heart “sifted and made abstract”, the paper first outlines the contours of the problem and then traces it through a series of examples. Drawing largely on the tradition of phenomenology and philosophical hermeneutics, a broadly Continental response to this formidable problem is suggested. Disagreement cannot be understood simply in terms of epistemological strategy, but needs to be regarded in a fundamentally hermeneutical light.

Sophia, Vol 52(1), 2013, Apr 2, 2013

In his 2010 article, ‘Secular Spirituality and the Logic of Giving Thanks’, John Bishop recalls a... more In his 2010 article, ‘Secular Spirituality and the Logic of Giving Thanks’, John Bishop recalls a striking theme in a recent address by Richard Dawkins in which he appeared to enthusiastically endorse the appropriateness of a ‘naturalised spirituality’ that involved ‘existential gratitude’, and this led him to investigate the notion of a naturalised or secular spirituality with particular reference to Robert Solomon’s Spirituality for the Skeptic (2002). This essay looks to pick up on Bishop’s engagements with both Dawkins and Solomon, but to extend the conversation well beyond them in order to defend the credibility and integrity of secular spirituality in its movement of ontological gratitude. In this way it looks to offer a first sketch of what might be termed a ‘hermeneutics of ontological gratitude’. To this end – and via a distinction between gratitude for existence and life – the essay considers Dawkins’ argument and Solomon’s work in further detail, before turning to consider various other perspectives on the problem including Kenneth Schmitz’s existential Thomist notion of ontological contingency, Hannah Arendt’s concept of primary natality, and Emmanuel Levinas’ sketch of the self in its interiority and economy. My claim is that any serious naturalistic spirituality needs to take into account not only a gratitude for one’s existence per se, but for the whole context of individual and collective being.

Proceedings of the American Catholic Philosophical Association, 2009

This paper looks to revive and advance dialogue surrounding John Nijenhuis’ case against ‘existen... more This paper looks to revive and advance dialogue surrounding John Nijenhuis’ case against ‘existence language’ as a rendering of Aquinas’ esse. Nijenhuis presented both a semantic/grammatical case for abandoning this practice as well as a more systematic argument based on his reading of Thomist metaphysics. On one hand, I affirm the important distinction between being and existence and lend qualified support to his interpretation of the quantitiative/qualitative correlation between esse and essentia in Aquinas’ texts. On the other hand, I take issue with Nijenhuis’ relegation of exist(ence) to a second-rate ontological principle, and to this end undertake a brief historical and etymological survey, noting its emergence in Greek thought (huparchein, huparksis), its translation into medieval Latin (ex(s)istere, ex(s)istentia) and thus something of the pedigree of this terminology in modern usage. I conclude with some brief remarks on the task of exegeting Aquinas vis-à-vis the revivification of contemporary metaphysical ontology in general.

International Philosophical Quarterly, 2004

In the context of the contemporary emergence of a “postmodern Kierkegaard,” I take issue with the... more In the context of the contemporary emergence of a “postmodern Kierkegaard,” I take issue with the idea that Kierkegaardian thought involves an anti-essentialist rejection of ontology. I argue that Kierkegaard’s keynote existential analysis is paralleled by, if not tacitly set within, a less developed yet explicit ontology of human being. This “subjective ontology” is at once an ontology of the existing subject, and a subjectization of ontology. Thus, the essay has two aims. First, I seek to revive and further debate surrounding the structure of the Kierkegaardian self, by tracing something of its dynamic three-fold relational structure and various metaphysical polarities. Accordingly, spirit, anxiety and despair are understood in their ontological dimensions, and not just as existential possibilities. Second, I propose a way of bringing together Kierkegaardian existentiality (the three stages) with the ontology (the three relations). Despite important asymmetries between these two structures, the unity of Kierkegaard’s approach can only be appreciated through viewing them synoptically.

Religion and Culture in Dialogue, Springer, 2016

In recent debate concerning the relationship between faith and reason, a pervasive assumption is ... more In recent debate concerning the relationship between faith and reason, a pervasive assumption is evident according to which one or other is considered to be original and basic. This paper develops an alternative view of the status of both rational and religious modes of thought drawing on the work of Adriaan Peperzak, and bringing his suggestion in this area into dialogue with a series of interlocators including Pascal, Levinas, Heidegger, Desmond and Van der Veken. Accordingly, neither rational and/or scientific methods, nor by religious orthodoxies, can claim primordiality. Rather, both of these phenomena are determinate concretions of a more elemental pre-conceptual source that can be spoken about in terms of a background experiential faith, or a metaphysical trust. It is on this basis that an alternative account of the relation between religious faith and reason is offered, according to which they are understood to be distinct yet intimately related at source.

Ethics Education, 2009

This paper looks to examine the closely connected themes of God’s existence, suffering and the go... more This paper looks to examine the closely connected themes of God’s existence, suffering and the goodness of the world in the work of American novelist, short-story writer, essayist and poet, John Updike, who died earlier this year. The text that structures the discussion is the syllogism he sets out in his semi-autobiographical work, Self-consciousness, which captures the thematic core of so much of his thought on these themes: viz, “If God does not exist, the world is a horror show; but the world is not a horror-show; therefore, God exists”. The discussion interweaves Updike with various other conversation partners, in particular the late cultural anthropologist, Ernest Becker, and contemporary philosopher, William Desmond.

Being Human: Groundwork for a Theological Anthropology for the 21st Century , 2013

Central to the argument of this paper is the claim that the underlying metaphysical assumptions t... more Central to the argument of this paper is the claim that the underlying metaphysical assumptions that underpin theological doctrines (in this case concerning salvation) are invariably poorly understood, and even less explicitly named. In this circumstance, theological discussion can often involve a process of participants talking past each other rather than engaging with the philosophical issues that set them apart in the first place, even before doctrinal positions are articulated. In drawing on a neglected typology developed by George Rupp several decades ago, this paper looks to reawaken this issue, while also investigating something of the soteriological vision of Gaudium et Spes, and of the implicit metaphysics underpinning it, fifty years on. If the challenges articulated in this great encyclical are to be taken up in the present, it is important to take into account not only the great diversity of views concerning salvation, but to also offer some account of the underlying structures of difference that give rise to this diversity.

Ethics Education, 2012

This paper follows on from the recent special issue of Ethics Education on natural law. It examin... more This paper follows on from the recent special issue of Ethics Education on natural law. It examines the two key terms in the name we give this tradition of thought, “natural” and ”law”, and in so doing suggests ways of rethinking the meaning of these terms that both shifts the ground somewhat while also retaining it as an indispensible founding moment for contemporary moral philosophy. The paper argues that the natural law tradition should be understood less as a vehicle for providing concrete norms for action, and more as an orienting prolegomenon for normative and applied ethics.

in "Death and Denial: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on the Legacy of Ernest Becker", Praeger, 2002.

After a brief introduction and orientation (section I), this dialogue between Levinasian and Beck... more After a brief introduction and orientation (section I), this dialogue between Levinasian and Beckerian thought is approached along the lines of two major themes concerning consciousness which emerge in very different contexts and registers in their work (sections II and III), and one tantalizing question that is raised with great force by the dialogue (section IV). The two themes revolve around the subtle dialectical interplay that runs throughout the thought of both Levinas and Becker – the switching between internality and externality, non-rational and rational; otherness and sameness; life and death – an interplay that is summed up in the dialectic between non-reflexive and reflexive consciousness. The Beckerian and Levinasian notions of the non-reflexive consciousness (section II) relate to their respective and in many ways convergent claims about a non-rational primal human state characterized by global vulnerability, awe and guilt, especially before the face of the other. Their analyses of reflexive consciousness (section III) relate to their interpretations of the problematic ideal of the free, self-constituting and self-mastering individual, and the impetus located therein towards the repression of what is Other to the self. Finally (section IV), the question is raised as to whether (and to what extent), following Levinas, sources of compelling ethical value might be legitimately understood as emerging out of Becker’s conception of primordial human vulnerability.

Contretemps: An Online Journal of Philosophy, Jul 3, 2002

The paper argues that Kierkegaard should be seen as a crucial bridging figure between the ultra-e... more The paper argues that Kierkegaard should be seen as a crucial bridging figure between the ultra-essentialism of early 19th century continental rationalism (typified by Hegel) on one hand, and the ‘post-‘ or ‘anti-essentialism’, of 20th century secular existentialist and post-foundationalist thought (typified by Sartre and Derrida respectively). It argues that it is only through understanding Kierkegaard historically as a transitional figure between these two, that the relevance of his work to contemporary philosophical thought can be clearly appreciated. That is, that it is precisely because Kierkegaard avoided an anti-essentialist approach even in his forthright rejection of Hegelian rationalistic ultra-essentialism, that his thought is of such relevance to the dominant contemporary situation in which ‘essence’ has all but disappeared from the philosophical radar. After a brief discussion of the nature of Kierkegaard’s ontology of the existing self – particularly as it is developed in his ‘psychological works’ – the paper adopts a ‘broad-brush’ approach in discussing the senses in which Kierkegaard both initiated a paradigm-shifting rejection of essentialist thinking as well as keeping his understanding rooted in a teleo-essentialist vision of the nature and destiny of human being. This is to argue that Kierkegaard was simultaneously an anthropological Heraclitian and a theological Parmenidean; and that it is in the not always harmonious ‘fit’ between these two contrasting and yet closely connected dimensions of his thought, that the enigma of Kierkegaard is most clearly evident. This ‘between-ness’ of Kierkegaardian thought is placed at the root of his most programmatic ideas, such as the concept of anxiety and the idea of faith as paradox. After some cursory reflections on the implications of this for recent and contemporary Kierkegaard scholarship, the paper ends with some meta-philosophical thoughts on the primacy of fundamental presuppositions in philosophy.

Book Reviews by Richard J Colledge

Phenomenological Reviews, 2022

Australasian Journal of Philosophy, Jun 25, 2014

This little book, in four chapters, is a revised version of lectures Dworkin gave in Bern in late... more This little book, in four chapters, is a revised version of lectures Dworkin gave in Bern in late 2011, with his illness the following year preventing him from developing his text into the intended fully elaborated work. It was brought to press shortly after his death in February 2013.