Richard Polt | Xavier University (original) (raw)
Books by Richard Polt
Heidegger calls the thought that "being is presence" the "thunderbolt" that led him to link being... more Heidegger calls the thought that "being is presence" the "thunderbolt" that led him to link being and time and inspired his deconstruction of Western metaphysics. However, the scope of the concept of presence varies in his texts; the narrower it is, the more dramatic yet less plausible is his "thunderbolt." What is presence? Does Heidegger ultimately reject presence as the meaning of being, or does he accept it if conceived broadly enough? This study surveys the meaning and status of "presence" in Heidegger. I argue that he maintains a critical perspective, and that his critique can be applied not only to the tradition as interpreted in his "history of being," but also to contemporary phenomena such as information technology.
This is a submitted manuscript under review that I am sharing in accordance with Cambridge University Press’s Green Open Access policy. I expect Heidegger on Presence to be published in 2025 in the series Cambridge Elements: The Philosophy of Martin Heidegger (https://www.cambridge.org/core/publications/elements/philosophy-of-martin-heidegger). That published version is the text that should be cited in any scholarship. This version is free to view and download for personal use only. Not for re-distribution, re-sale or use in derivative works. © Richard Polt 2024.
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Introduction to Time and Trauma (2019). Book available at https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781786610492
Heidegger: An Introduction. Ithaca: Cornell University Press and London: UCL Press, 1999. Current... more Heidegger: An Introduction. Ithaca: Cornell University Press and London: UCL Press, 1999. Currently published in the UK by Routledge.
https://books.google.com/books?id=paxTAQAAQBAJ
Author's errata and addenda for Richard Polt, Heidegger: An Introduction (Cornell University Pres... more Author's errata and addenda for Richard Polt, Heidegger: An Introduction (Cornell University Press, 1999).
Chinese and English versions of my preface to the Chinese edition of Heidegger: An Introduction, ... more Chinese and English versions of my preface to the Chinese edition of Heidegger: An Introduction, translated by Chen Zhi (2024). While working full-time in a factory, Chen Zhi studied English and philosophy, and developed this translation: see https://www.sixthtone.com/news/1009567. This edition includes some corrections and new material on Heidegger's political views. The second English edition of the book, forthcoming from Cornell University Press, will include this material as well as other additions and improvements.
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The Typewriter Revolution: A Typist’s Companion for the 21st Century. Woodstock, VT: Countryman P... more The Typewriter Revolution: A Typist’s Companion for the 21st Century. Woodstock, VT: Countryman Press, 2015. (Introduction)
https://books.google.com/books?id=uhXSBgAAQBAJ
What do thousands of writers, makers, kids, poets, artists, steampunks, and hipsters have in common? They love typewriters—the magical, mechanical contraptions that are enjoying a surprising second life in the 21st century. The Typewriter Revolution documents the movement and provides practical advice on how to choose a typewriter, use it, and care for it—from National Novel Writing Month to letter-writing socials, from type-ins to customized typewriters.
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"The Philosophical Salon [ed. Michael Marder & Patrícia Vieira] gathers in a single volume the vo... more "The Philosophical Salon [ed. Michael Marder & Patrícia Vieira] gathers in a single volume the voices of today’s leading public intellectuals, who offer their interpretations of the political, ecological, aesthetic, religious, and social aspects of the human condition in the twenty-first century." Includes "On Privacing," by Richard Polt.
Edited volumes by Richard Polt
In its early modern form, philosophy gave a decisive impetus to the science and technology that h... more In its early modern form, philosophy gave a decisive impetus to the science and technology that have transformed the planet and brought on the so-called Anthropocene. Can philosophy now help us understand this new age and act within it? The contributors to this volume take a broad historical view as they reflect on the responsibilities and possibilities for philosophy today. (I have uploaded the Editors' Introduction and my chapter separately.) http://www.rowmaninternational.com/book/the_task_of_philosophy_in_the_anthropocene/3-156-e188aa00-524f-4ea4-b3c4-c07bafe3545a
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Like every major phenomenon, the Anthropocene demands to be understood philosophically; furthermo... more Like every major phenomenon, the Anthropocene demands to be understood philosophically; furthermore, modern philosophy was itself a major contributor to the rise of modern technology and thus to the dramatic transformation of the Earth. The methods and distinctions of thinkers such as Descartes can be credited, but also blamed, for humanity's accelerated ability to analyze and alter its environment. More broadly, the philosophical aspiration to transcend the particular by rationally investigating essences eventually led to the universalizing theories
of nature and humanity that have, in the modern age, dissolved former ecosystems and traditions. Thus, beyond the task of understanding the Anthropocene and its roots, philosophers may have a responsibility to ask whether there is anything that they, as philosophers, can do. Can we affect the future for the better?
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
This unique volume collects more than 30 new essays by prominent scholars on what remains philoso... more This unique volume collects more than 30 new essays by prominent scholars on what remains philosophically provocative in Heidegger’s thought. His writings continue to invite analysis and application — but, particularly in the light of his political affiliations, they must also be critiqued. Philosophy today takes place after Heidegger in that his views should not be accepted naively, and there are new issues that he did not address — but also in that we continue to think in the wake of important questions that he raised.
The contributors to this volume ask questions such as:
- What does it mean to think “after” Heidegger?
- What is valuable in his early work on finite existence, and in his early and late phenomenology?
- What is the root of his political errors? Are there still elements in his thought that can yield helpful political insights?
- Should we emulate his turn toward “releasement”?
- Can he help us understand the postmodern condition?
Jon Wittrock and Richard Polt, "The Nature of Nature and the Politics of Fate," Editors' Introduc... more Jon Wittrock and Richard Polt, "The Nature of Nature and the Politics of Fate," Editors' Introduction to Telos, Winter 2016: Rethinking Nature in the Anthropocene.
http://journal.telospress.com/content/2016/177.toc
Martin Heidegger, Nature, History, State: 1933-1934, with essays by Robert Bernasconi, Peter E. G... more Martin Heidegger, Nature, History, State: 1933-1934, with essays by Robert Bernasconi, Peter E. Gordon, Marion Heinz, Theodore Kisiel, and Slavoj Žižek. Translated and edited, with an introduction, by Gregory Fried and Richard Polt. London: Bloomsbury, 2013.
https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/nature-history-state-9781441133250/
Nature, History, State: 1933-1934 presents the first complete English-language translation of Heidegger's seminar 'On the Essence and Concepts of Nature, History and State', together with full introductory material and interpretive essays by five leading thinkers and scholars: Robert Bernasconi, Peter Eli Gordon, Marion Heinz, Theodore Kisiel and Slavoj Žižek.
The seminar, which was held while Heidegger was serving as National Socialist rector of the University of Freiburg, represents important evidence of the development of Heidegger's political thought. The text consists of ten 'protocols' on the seminar sessions, composed by students and reviewed by Heidegger. The first session's protocol is a rather personal commentary on the atmosphere in the classroom, but the remainder have every appearance of being faithful transcripts of Heidegger's words, in which he raises a variety of fundamental questions about nature, history and the state. The seminar culminates in an attempt to sketch a political philosophy that supports the 'Führer state'. The text is important evidence for anyone considering the tortured question of Heidegger's Nazism and its connection to his philosophy in general.
A Companion to Heidegger’s “Introduction to Metaphysics.” Edited with an introduction by Richard ... more A Companion to Heidegger’s “Introduction to Metaphysics.” Edited with an introduction by Richard Polt and Gregory Fried. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2001.
https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300085242/companion-heideggers-introduction-metaphysics
Martin Heidegger’s Introduction to Metaphysics, first published in 1953, is a highly significant work by a towering figure in twentieth-century philosophy. The volume is known for its incisive analysis of the Western understanding of Being, its original interpretations of Greek philosophy and poetry, and its vehement political statements. This new companion to the Introduction to Metaphysics presents an overview of Heidegger’s text and a variety of perspectives on its interpretation from more than a dozen highly respected contributors.
In the editors’ introduction to the book, Richard Polt and Gregory Fried alert readers to the important themes and problems of Introduction to Metaphysics. The contributors then offer original essays on three broad topics: the question of Being, Heidegger and the Greeks, and politics and ethics. Both for readers who are approaching Heidegger for the first time and for those who are studying Heidegger on an advanced level, this Companion offers a clear guide to one of the philosopher’s most difficult yet most influential writings.
Articles by Richard Polt
Gatherings: The Heidegger Circle Annual , 2019
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Etudes phénoménologiques - Phenomenological Studies, 2024
(This article may not be posted on Academia until 2027, but I have permission to share it with in... more (This article may not be posted on Academia until 2027, but I have permission to share it with individuals, so email me at polt@xavier.edu if you'd like a copy.)
I discuss the problem of collective identity with reference to thinkers including Arendt, Heidegger, Dewey, and Schutz. In Heideggerian terms, a community attempts, through communication and struggle, to find a shared destiny on the basis of a shared heritage; but the question 'Who are we?' cannot be definitively answered. Democracies are always and essentially in crisis, in that they encourage citizens to participate in contesting collective identity. They institutionalize the question 'Who are we?' The ancient Athenian practice of selection by lot is an example. Today, too many citizens of democracies are longing for an end to crisis, a definitive answer to the question of collective identity; this desire invites demagoguery and dictatorship. This is the crisis of anticrisis. The revival of selection by lot in the deliberative democracy movement is one reason to hope that citizens of democracies can find their way back to the spirit of democracy as permanent crisis. (Pictured: cartoon by Edward Steed, referenced in the article.)
Journal of Continental Philosophy, 2023
"Irrealis" grammatical moods, such as the subjunctive, provoke linguistic, literary, and phenomen... more "Irrealis" grammatical moods, such as the subjunctive, provoke linguistic, literary, and phenomenological questions. What is the ontological status of the domain revealed by irrealis moods? How does it solicit signification? Is it a mere illusion or a distraction from the real? I propose not only that our ventures into the irreal are indispensable ways of making sense of things, but that the irreal is necessary to the being of language and to our own being.
In accordance with the journal's requirements, I am uploading the entire text of this article, but not in its published format.
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Heidegger calls the thought that "being is presence" the "thunderbolt" that led him to link being... more Heidegger calls the thought that "being is presence" the "thunderbolt" that led him to link being and time and inspired his deconstruction of Western metaphysics. However, the scope of the concept of presence varies in his texts; the narrower it is, the more dramatic yet less plausible is his "thunderbolt." What is presence? Does Heidegger ultimately reject presence as the meaning of being, or does he accept it if conceived broadly enough? This study surveys the meaning and status of "presence" in Heidegger. I argue that he maintains a critical perspective, and that his critique can be applied not only to the tradition as interpreted in his "history of being," but also to contemporary phenomena such as information technology.
This is a submitted manuscript under review that I am sharing in accordance with Cambridge University Press’s Green Open Access policy. I expect Heidegger on Presence to be published in 2025 in the series Cambridge Elements: The Philosophy of Martin Heidegger (https://www.cambridge.org/core/publications/elements/philosophy-of-martin-heidegger). That published version is the text that should be cited in any scholarship. This version is free to view and download for personal use only. Not for re-distribution, re-sale or use in derivative works. © Richard Polt 2024.
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Introduction to Time and Trauma (2019). Book available at https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781786610492
Heidegger: An Introduction. Ithaca: Cornell University Press and London: UCL Press, 1999. Current... more Heidegger: An Introduction. Ithaca: Cornell University Press and London: UCL Press, 1999. Currently published in the UK by Routledge.
https://books.google.com/books?id=paxTAQAAQBAJ
Author's errata and addenda for Richard Polt, Heidegger: An Introduction (Cornell University Pres... more Author's errata and addenda for Richard Polt, Heidegger: An Introduction (Cornell University Press, 1999).
Chinese and English versions of my preface to the Chinese edition of Heidegger: An Introduction, ... more Chinese and English versions of my preface to the Chinese edition of Heidegger: An Introduction, translated by Chen Zhi (2024). While working full-time in a factory, Chen Zhi studied English and philosophy, and developed this translation: see https://www.sixthtone.com/news/1009567. This edition includes some corrections and new material on Heidegger's political views. The second English edition of the book, forthcoming from Cornell University Press, will include this material as well as other additions and improvements.
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The Typewriter Revolution: A Typist’s Companion for the 21st Century. Woodstock, VT: Countryman P... more The Typewriter Revolution: A Typist’s Companion for the 21st Century. Woodstock, VT: Countryman Press, 2015. (Introduction)
https://books.google.com/books?id=uhXSBgAAQBAJ
What do thousands of writers, makers, kids, poets, artists, steampunks, and hipsters have in common? They love typewriters—the magical, mechanical contraptions that are enjoying a surprising second life in the 21st century. The Typewriter Revolution documents the movement and provides practical advice on how to choose a typewriter, use it, and care for it—from National Novel Writing Month to letter-writing socials, from type-ins to customized typewriters.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
"The Philosophical Salon [ed. Michael Marder & Patrícia Vieira] gathers in a single volume the vo... more "The Philosophical Salon [ed. Michael Marder & Patrícia Vieira] gathers in a single volume the voices of today’s leading public intellectuals, who offer their interpretations of the political, ecological, aesthetic, religious, and social aspects of the human condition in the twenty-first century." Includes "On Privacing," by Richard Polt.
In its early modern form, philosophy gave a decisive impetus to the science and technology that h... more In its early modern form, philosophy gave a decisive impetus to the science and technology that have transformed the planet and brought on the so-called Anthropocene. Can philosophy now help us understand this new age and act within it? The contributors to this volume take a broad historical view as they reflect on the responsibilities and possibilities for philosophy today. (I have uploaded the Editors' Introduction and my chapter separately.) http://www.rowmaninternational.com/book/the_task_of_philosophy_in_the_anthropocene/3-156-e188aa00-524f-4ea4-b3c4-c07bafe3545a
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Like every major phenomenon, the Anthropocene demands to be understood philosophically; furthermo... more Like every major phenomenon, the Anthropocene demands to be understood philosophically; furthermore, modern philosophy was itself a major contributor to the rise of modern technology and thus to the dramatic transformation of the Earth. The methods and distinctions of thinkers such as Descartes can be credited, but also blamed, for humanity's accelerated ability to analyze and alter its environment. More broadly, the philosophical aspiration to transcend the particular by rationally investigating essences eventually led to the universalizing theories
of nature and humanity that have, in the modern age, dissolved former ecosystems and traditions. Thus, beyond the task of understanding the Anthropocene and its roots, philosophers may have a responsibility to ask whether there is anything that they, as philosophers, can do. Can we affect the future for the better?
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
This unique volume collects more than 30 new essays by prominent scholars on what remains philoso... more This unique volume collects more than 30 new essays by prominent scholars on what remains philosophically provocative in Heidegger’s thought. His writings continue to invite analysis and application — but, particularly in the light of his political affiliations, they must also be critiqued. Philosophy today takes place after Heidegger in that his views should not be accepted naively, and there are new issues that he did not address — but also in that we continue to think in the wake of important questions that he raised.
The contributors to this volume ask questions such as:
- What does it mean to think “after” Heidegger?
- What is valuable in his early work on finite existence, and in his early and late phenomenology?
- What is the root of his political errors? Are there still elements in his thought that can yield helpful political insights?
- Should we emulate his turn toward “releasement”?
- Can he help us understand the postmodern condition?
Jon Wittrock and Richard Polt, "The Nature of Nature and the Politics of Fate," Editors' Introduc... more Jon Wittrock and Richard Polt, "The Nature of Nature and the Politics of Fate," Editors' Introduction to Telos, Winter 2016: Rethinking Nature in the Anthropocene.
http://journal.telospress.com/content/2016/177.toc
Martin Heidegger, Nature, History, State: 1933-1934, with essays by Robert Bernasconi, Peter E. G... more Martin Heidegger, Nature, History, State: 1933-1934, with essays by Robert Bernasconi, Peter E. Gordon, Marion Heinz, Theodore Kisiel, and Slavoj Žižek. Translated and edited, with an introduction, by Gregory Fried and Richard Polt. London: Bloomsbury, 2013.
https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/nature-history-state-9781441133250/
Nature, History, State: 1933-1934 presents the first complete English-language translation of Heidegger's seminar 'On the Essence and Concepts of Nature, History and State', together with full introductory material and interpretive essays by five leading thinkers and scholars: Robert Bernasconi, Peter Eli Gordon, Marion Heinz, Theodore Kisiel and Slavoj Žižek.
The seminar, which was held while Heidegger was serving as National Socialist rector of the University of Freiburg, represents important evidence of the development of Heidegger's political thought. The text consists of ten 'protocols' on the seminar sessions, composed by students and reviewed by Heidegger. The first session's protocol is a rather personal commentary on the atmosphere in the classroom, but the remainder have every appearance of being faithful transcripts of Heidegger's words, in which he raises a variety of fundamental questions about nature, history and the state. The seminar culminates in an attempt to sketch a political philosophy that supports the 'Führer state'. The text is important evidence for anyone considering the tortured question of Heidegger's Nazism and its connection to his philosophy in general.
A Companion to Heidegger’s “Introduction to Metaphysics.” Edited with an introduction by Richard ... more A Companion to Heidegger’s “Introduction to Metaphysics.” Edited with an introduction by Richard Polt and Gregory Fried. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2001.
https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300085242/companion-heideggers-introduction-metaphysics
Martin Heidegger’s Introduction to Metaphysics, first published in 1953, is a highly significant work by a towering figure in twentieth-century philosophy. The volume is known for its incisive analysis of the Western understanding of Being, its original interpretations of Greek philosophy and poetry, and its vehement political statements. This new companion to the Introduction to Metaphysics presents an overview of Heidegger’s text and a variety of perspectives on its interpretation from more than a dozen highly respected contributors.
In the editors’ introduction to the book, Richard Polt and Gregory Fried alert readers to the important themes and problems of Introduction to Metaphysics. The contributors then offer original essays on three broad topics: the question of Being, Heidegger and the Greeks, and politics and ethics. Both for readers who are approaching Heidegger for the first time and for those who are studying Heidegger on an advanced level, this Companion offers a clear guide to one of the philosopher’s most difficult yet most influential writings.
Gatherings: The Heidegger Circle Annual , 2019
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Etudes phénoménologiques - Phenomenological Studies, 2024
(This article may not be posted on Academia until 2027, but I have permission to share it with in... more (This article may not be posted on Academia until 2027, but I have permission to share it with individuals, so email me at polt@xavier.edu if you'd like a copy.)
I discuss the problem of collective identity with reference to thinkers including Arendt, Heidegger, Dewey, and Schutz. In Heideggerian terms, a community attempts, through communication and struggle, to find a shared destiny on the basis of a shared heritage; but the question 'Who are we?' cannot be definitively answered. Democracies are always and essentially in crisis, in that they encourage citizens to participate in contesting collective identity. They institutionalize the question 'Who are we?' The ancient Athenian practice of selection by lot is an example. Today, too many citizens of democracies are longing for an end to crisis, a definitive answer to the question of collective identity; this desire invites demagoguery and dictatorship. This is the crisis of anticrisis. The revival of selection by lot in the deliberative democracy movement is one reason to hope that citizens of democracies can find their way back to the spirit of democracy as permanent crisis. (Pictured: cartoon by Edward Steed, referenced in the article.)
Journal of Continental Philosophy, 2023
"Irrealis" grammatical moods, such as the subjunctive, provoke linguistic, literary, and phenomen... more "Irrealis" grammatical moods, such as the subjunctive, provoke linguistic, literary, and phenomenological questions. What is the ontological status of the domain revealed by irrealis moods? How does it solicit signification? Is it a mere illusion or a distraction from the real? I propose not only that our ventures into the irreal are indispensable ways of making sense of things, but that the irreal is necessary to the being of language and to our own being.
In accordance with the journal's requirements, I am uploading the entire text of this article, but not in its published format.
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Gatherings: The Heidegger Circle Annual, 2023
"The argument against need" that is countered by Heidegger in his text by that name is likened to... more "The argument against need" that is countered by Heidegger in his text by that name is likened to Samuel Johnson's effort to "refute" Berkeleyan idealism by kicking a stone. Heidegger's position is compared to ideas in Plato, Kant, and Scheler. The Heideggerian correlation or "need" between being and the human cannot be refuted by facts about entities such as stones, but the argumentum ad lapidem does retain a certain right as an experience of resistance.
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Graduate Faculty Philosophy Journal, 2020
Heidegger’s Being and Time (1927) develops a phenomenology of Dasein, which is presented there as... more Heidegger’s Being and Time (1927) develops a phenomenology of Dasein, which is presented there as the ontological structure of humanity. But in his "Running Notes on 'Being and Time'” ("Laufende Anmerkungen zu 'Sein und Zeit,'" written in 1936, published in 2018) Heidegger asserts that Dasein does not coincide with existing humanity, but is a “leap” into an unprecedented future. This assertion challenges us to rethink both the content and the procedure of Being and Time, including its phenomenological method, which, according to the "Running Notes," is suited only to describing the given, rather than leaping into the potential. In addition to exploring the Running Notes, the present article discusses some anticipations in Being and Time itself of the perspective developed in the Notes; it shows that such a perspective is muted in Heidegger’s postwar texts, such as the “Letter on ‘Humanism,’” but is not necessarily eliminated; and it indicates some of the perspective’s philosophical difficulties.
Existentia, 2001
I compare Aristotle's concept of dynamis (potentiality) to the modern concept of power as energy.... more I compare Aristotle's concept of dynamis (potentiality) to the modern concept of power as energy. I then propose that both the Aristotelian and the modern standpoints have problematic limitations. Modernity's difference from Aristotle thus suggests the need for a transformation—not a return to Aristotle, but the development of a postmodern alternative to both Aristotelian dynamis and modern energy, which I label "sway."
(This article from 2007 has been revised and incorporated in my 2019 book Time and Trauma: Thinki... more (This article from 2007 has been revised and incorporated in my 2019 book Time and Trauma: Thinking Through Heidegger in the Thirties. I no longer describe Heidegger's attitude toward Nazism as "resistance," given a now-published passage in the Black Notebooks where he "affirms" Nazism despite characterizing it as the ultimate form of late-modern machination. In my reading, Heidegger sees Nazism as a force that can bring about the catastrophic collapse of modernity and make room for "the other inception.")
The private writings published in the third division of the Gesamtausgabe prove that by the outbreak of World War II, Heidegger had developed a point of view that was strongly opposed to official National Socialism. To Heidegger’s credit, he saw through and passed beyond Nazi ideology and the metaphysics of struggle and power. But in doing so, he
also passed beyond and overlooked all concrete struggles and powers.
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European Review / Volume 22 / Issue 02 / May 2014, pp 231 - 243 DOI: 10.1017/S1062798714000076, P... more European Review / Volume 22 / Issue 02 / May 2014, pp 231 - 243
DOI: 10.1017/S1062798714000076, Published online: 13 May 2014
“Heidegger, Reason, and the Burden of Being.” Argumenta Philosophica 2 (2017): 35-48. https://... more “Heidegger, Reason, and the Burden of Being.” Argumenta Philosophica 2 (2017): 35-48.
https://www.herdereditorial.com/argumenta-philosophica-vol-2-2017
This essay investigates the nonrational basis of human existence according to Heidegger. In particular, our own being is at issue for us, and since we are being-in-the-world, the being of all entities in the world is at issue for us. I argue that Heidegger did not sufficiently explore the political questions that this human condition entails, and that a "traumatic ontology" could speak of events in which our own being becomes an issue.
The article defines being and emergency in terms of sense and what exceeds sense: the sense of be... more The article defines being and emergency in terms of sense and what exceeds sense: the sense of being implies an excess over sense; an emergency is a clash between sense and excess. The article then argues deductively that, as entities for whom being is an issue, we depend on greater and lesser emergencies thanks to which entities become accessible. Emergencies reshape the possible, the past, and the present; they call for emergent thinking, or thinking that is itself undergoing an emergency.
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“The Black Notebooks as Thought Journals.” In Zur Hermeneutik der “Schwarzen Hefte,” Heidegger-J... more “The Black Notebooks as Thought Journals.” In Zur Hermeneutik der “Schwarzen Hefte,” Heidegger-Jahrbuch 11, ed. Alfred Denker and Holger Zaborowski. Freiburg: Karl Alber, 2017.
Italian translation: “I Quaderni neri come diari filosofici,” tr. Massimo Mezzanzanica, Magazzino di Filosofia 10:29 (2016-17/B10): 13-30.
Gatherings: The Heidegger Circle Annual, 2019
I invited several experienced readers of Heidegger to submit brief statements on the topic of pre... more I invited several experienced readers of Heidegger to submit brief statements on the topic of presence, and to compose even briefer reflections after reading each other’s initial statements. Their texts are followed by a few words from me on the theme. The questions for this symposium are: Do we need an alternative to presence as an understanding of being? If not, why not? If so, why, and what could the alternative be?
Gatherings: The Heidegger Circle Annual, 2020
Concepts of destiny (Geschick) play important roles in Heidegger’s thought, both early and late. ... more Concepts of destiny (Geschick) play important roles in Heidegger’s thought, both early and late. Are such concepts still fruitful? Or do they lend themselves all
too easily to political misuse, and to the construction of metanarratives that are no longer persuasive or palatable in our age? Can human coexistence still be illuminated by some conception of destiny? If so, can any of Heidegger’s reflections on the theme help us develop such
a conception today? I introduce the discussion among five contributors and end with a few reflections.
Open Philosophy, 2022
The essay investigates two personae: Socrates as depicted by Plato and Descartes as narrator of t... more The essay investigates two personae: Socrates as depicted by Plato and Descartes as narrator of the Discourse on Method and Meditations. Socrates is aware of his ignorance and insists on remembering to care for the self; Descartes claims to have overcome ignorance through a method that breaks problems into simple and certain elements, establishing a self-certain yet impersonal subject that comprehends and controls objects. The Cartesian approach has led to the modern process of "liquidation" that reduces beings, property, and truth to resources, wealth, and information—initiating the dangerous and unprecedented epoch known as the Anthropocene. The Socratic approach offers some promise of reintegration and resistance to liquidation by urging us to care for wholeness and recognizing that being exceeds what we comprehend.
Gatherings: The Heidegger Circle Annual, 2022
The discovery of a 1932 typewriter apparently signed by Heidegger raises questions about its auth... more The discovery of a 1932 typewriter apparently signed by Heidegger raises questions about its authenticity and purpose, and prompts us to reconsider the validity of Heidegger's portrayal of typewriters as devices that alienate writing from the hand and exemplify the modern oblivion of being.
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Journal of Chinese Philosophy, 2014
According to Heidegger, his key word Ereignis "can no more be translated" than "guiding words" in... more According to Heidegger, his key word Ereignis "can no more be translated" than "guiding words" in other languages, such as logos and dao. This essay presents a few reflections on the sense of Ereignis in Heidegger's thought and on the problem of translation. I distinguish three phases in Heidegger's use of the word Ereignis and draw on Paul Ricoeur and John Sallis to establish a view of translation that lies between the extremes of perfect translation and complete untranslatability. I argue that while perfect translation is impossible, imperfect translations--illuminating shifts from one context or language to another--are both possible and necessary, even when it comes to the word Ereignis. This position is compatible with Heidegger's view that encounter is made possible by distance.
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The Routledge Handbook of Contemporary Existentialism , 2024
(This first page and a few more can be found on the Amazon preview for the book.) Is the notion o... more (This first page and a few more can be found on the Amazon preview for the book.) Is the notion of existential choice still viable in the 21st century, or have we outgrown it? Is the notion not only naive but dangerous, inasmuch as it celebrates irrational, indefensible, and arbitrary decision? This chapter defends the reality of existential choice and the need for it; lays out some important ways of existing; distinguishes existential choice from other forms of choice; and describes how temporality is transformed in a moment of crisis.
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“Drawing the Line: Political Thought in Heidegger’s Lecture Courses and Seminars of 1933-35.” In ... more “Drawing the Line: Political Thought in Heidegger’s Lecture Courses and Seminars of 1933-35.” In Heidegger’s Question of Being: Dasein, Truth, and History, ed. Holger Zaborowski. Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press, 2017.
https://www.amazon.com/Heideggers-Question-Being-History-Philosophy/dp/0813229545/
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The Routledge Handbook of Political Phenomenology, 2024
(The Amazon preview of the book displays this opening page of my chapter as well as a few more pa... more (The Amazon preview of the book displays this opening page of my chapter as well as a few more pages.) The concepts of being-with, historicity, and destiny in Heidegger’s Sein und Zeit (Being and Time) describe the ontological basis for political existence. In the early 1930s, he supports Nazism as a movement that might found a new era based on the particular historicity of Germany. By the late 1930s, he sees Nazism as the ultimate form of modern machination and brutality—but ‘affirms’ it as a way to bring about the collapse of modernity and clear the path for a new inception of being. After World War II, he advocates awaiting such an inception rather than acting to bring it about. In all these phases, his thoughts remain too divorced from concrete experience to offer political guidance.
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“Ereignis.” In A Companion to Heidegger, ed. Hubert L. Dreyfus and Mark Wrathall. Oxford: Blackwe... more “Ereignis.” In A Companion to Heidegger, ed. Hubert L. Dreyfus and Mark Wrathall. Oxford: Blackwell, 2005.
Heidegger on Logic, 2022
I am uploading the opening 2 pages of my chapter in Heidegger on Logic, ed. Filippo Casati and Da... more I am uploading the opening 2 pages of my chapter in Heidegger on Logic, ed. Filippo Casati and Daniel O. Dahlstrom (Cambridge, 2022).
According to Heidegger, Being and Time engages in a “productive logic” that discloses the being of the entities in various fields by generating new concepts. However, he does not explain just how his productive logic operates. This chapter examines two of his typical practices that embody such a logic: verbalization (turning nouns into verbs, as in “the world worlds”) and the phenomenology of deficient modes (exceptions that prove the rule, such as being alone as a deficient mode of being-with). Verbalization invites us to form concepts that indicate the way of existing, or being actual, that distinguishes entities in a certain domain. The concept of a deficient mode challenges us to take a concept that is normally one of a pair of ontic opposites and transform it into an ontological concept that covers both opposites and describes fundamental features of a certain domain. In addition to explaining both of these forms of productive logic, the chapter considers and replies to several objections to these procedures.
Keywords: verbalization, deficient modes, existence, ontology, tautology, Aristotle
The Cartesian method so typical of modernity has many illuminating, liberating, and creative effe... more The Cartesian method so typical of modernity has many illuminating, liberating, and creative effects, but it promotes liquidation—increasingly so as the entire planet is modernized—and this method is bound up with a particular vision of the essence of nature. All the same, the philosophical passion for essence is not to be rejected. It is not necessarily complicit in liquidation, but can serve the cause of integration—the preservation of the wholeness and distinctiveness of being, goods, and truth.
“A Heideggerian Critique of Cyberbeing.” In Horizons of Authenticity in Phenomenology, Existentia... more “A Heideggerian Critique of Cyberbeing.” In Horizons of Authenticity in Phenomenology, Existentialism, and Moral Psychology: Essays in Honor of Charles Guignon, ed. Hans Pedersen and Megan Altman. Dordrecht: Springer, 2015.
http://www.springer.com/us/book/9789401794411
“Cyberbeing” is the interpretation of all beings in terms of information
processing, along with our everyday experience of immersion in a world
that revolves around such processing. This essay draws on Heidegger
to critique both aspects of cyberbeing. Norbert Wiener’s cybernetics
aspired to grasp humanity, society, life, machines, and the cosmos in
terms of information, but Heidegger viewed cybernetic metaphysics
as a form of the modern “humanist” project of representation and
calculation, which misunderstands the human condition. This criticism
is relevant to twenty-first century conceptions such as the information
philosophy of Luciano Floridi. Heidegger’s thought can also illuminate
cyberbeing as experience, because his account of inauthenticity in Being
and Time can be applied to prevalent uses of information technology
today. The technology does not create inauthenticity, but it tempts us into
behavior that illustrates Heidegger’s concepts of curiosity, ambiguity,
and idle talk, as well as inauthentic forms of spatiality and temporality.
In conclusion, the essay considers the prospects for distancing ourselves
from cyberbeing.
“Self-Assertion as Founding.” In Martin Heidegger, On Hegel’s “Philosophy of Right”: The 1934-35 ... more “Self-Assertion as Founding.” In Martin Heidegger, On Hegel’s “Philosophy of Right”: The 1934-35 Seminar and Interpretive Essays, ed. Peter Trawny, Marcia Sá Cavalcante-Schuback, and Michael Marder. London: Bloomsbury, 2014.
https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/on-hegels-philosophy-of-right-9781441185013/
“The Black Notebooks as Thought Journals.” In Zur Hermeneutik der “Schwarzen Hefte,” Heidegger-J... more “The Black Notebooks as Thought Journals.” In Zur Hermeneutik der “Schwarzen Hefte,” Heidegger-Jahrbuch 11, ed. Alfred Denker and Holger Zaborowski. Freiburg: Karl Alber, 2017.
This essay investigates the character of the Black Notebooks as thought journals (Denktagebücher)—texts that explore ideas through the process of writing. The notebooks experiment with thoughts and concepts (such as “greatness” and “the history of beyng”) that they often later abandon or explicitly reject. In order to consider the relationship between thought journals and other genres of Heidegger’s writing, including his publications, I examine the original context of the line “he who thinks greatly must err greatly” (“Wer groß denkt, muß groß irren”), which Heidegger later incorporated in Aus der Erfahrung des Denkens. In conclusion, I observe that despite their experimental and fluctuating character, the notebooks are evidence of certain enduring tendencies in Heidegger’s way of thinking, such as his thirst for the essence of phenomena.
“Inception, Downfall, and the Broken World: Heidegger Above the Sea of Fog.” In Heidegger's “Blac... more “Inception, Downfall, and the Broken World: Heidegger Above the Sea of Fog.” In Heidegger's “Black Notebooks”: Responses to Anti-Semitism, ed. Andrew J. Mitchell and Peter Trawny. New York: Columbia University Press, 2017.
https://cup.columbia.edu/book/heideggers-black-notebooks/9780231180450
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“Traumatic Ontology.” In Being Shaken: Ontology and the Event, ed. Michael Marder and Santiago Za... more “Traumatic Ontology.” In Being Shaken: Ontology and the Event, ed. Michael Marder and Santiago Zabala. Palgrave Studies in Postmetaphysical Thought. Basingstoke and New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2014.
http://www.springer.com/us/book/9781137333728
After Heidegger?, 2017
This essay focuses on the thought that Dasein’s own being is at issue for it, and proposes to ext... more This essay focuses on the thought that Dasein’s own being is at issue for it, and proposes to extend this insight by applying it to political philosophy and developing a “traumatic ontology.” This is one of 33 essays in Gregory Fried and Richard Polt, eds., After Heidegger? (London: Rowman & Littlefield International, 2017).
Carl Schmitt and The Buribunks: Technology, Law, Literature, 2022
I am uploading the first 2 pages of this essay on Carl Schmitt's "The Buribunks." — The Buribunk... more I am uploading the first 2 pages of this essay on Carl Schmitt's "The Buribunks." —
The Buribunks’ obsession with documenting their existence reduces time to a series of ‘rat-seconds’. The past becomes analysable information, rather than a living heritage. The present becomes a data point, rather than an opportunity for action or insight. Perhaps most disturbingly, the future becomes merely a trove of as-yet-unknown information, rather than meaningful possibilities to be pursued with a clear understanding of one’s own finitude. Schmitt’s vision has affinities with Kierkegaard’s verdict on the public; with Nietzsche’s critique of an antiquarianism that fails to serve life; and with Heidegger’s phenomenology of inauthentic temporality and the chatter of the ‘they’. The Buribunks enriches these points of view by exploring how constant, universal publishing would turn subjective experience into objective data. In 1918, buribunkism was a bold extrapolation; in the twenty-first century, hyperburibunkism exacerbates divisions, spreads conspiracies and establishes near-total surveillance. How can we foster liberty, truth, community and authenticity in the information age? I argue that one contributor to a more genuine public sphere must be a counter-practice to hyperburibunkism that I call privacing: the cultivation of experiences that resist publication.
Contemporanea, 2024
In Contemporanea: A Glossary for the 21st Century, ed. Michael Marder and Giovanbattista Tusa (Ca... more In Contemporanea: A Glossary for the 21st Century, ed. Michael Marder and Giovanbattista Tusa (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2024), 42 contributors describe concepts that may shape this century. My piece sketches the changes in the meaning of public and private from premodern to modern to postmodern worlds. Now "what is at stake is nurturing a self that does not drown in information, that has depth beyond data, that has integrity."
In 2015 I translated these sections of the Phenomenology of Spirit for a course I was teaching on... more In 2015 I translated these sections of the Phenomenology of Spirit for a course I was teaching on philosophy and slavery. The translation attempts to be very literal while avoiding unnecessary obscurity and ambiguity. Features include the translation of Selbständigkeit and Unselbständigkeit as "self-sufficiency" and "insufficiency."
Introduction to Metaphysics, by Martin Heidegger. Translated, with an introduction, notes, and gl... more Introduction to Metaphysics, by Martin Heidegger. Translated, with an introduction, notes, and glossary, by Gregory Fried and Richard Polt. Revised edition, with new introduction and supplementary material. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2014.
(https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300186123/introduction-metaphysics)
This new edition of one of Heidegger’s most important works features a revised and expanded translators’ introduction and an updated translation, as well as the first English versions of Heidegger’s draft of a portion of the text and of his later critique of his own lectures. Other new features include an afterword by Petra Jaeger, editor of the German text.
“This revised edition of the translation of Heidegger’s 1935 lectures, with its inclusion of helpful new materials, superbly augments the excellent translation provided in the first edition. The result is a richly rewarding volume, to be recommended to every student of Heidegger’s works, whether a novice or a long-time reader.”—Daniel Dahlstrom, Boston University
I am uploading the translators' introduction.
Bloomsbury, 2013
Nature, History, State: 1933-1934 presents the first complete English-language translation of Hei... more Nature, History, State: 1933-1934 presents the first complete English-language translation of Heidegger's seminar 'On the Essence and Concepts of Nature, History and State', together with full introductory material and interpretive essays by five leading thinkers and scholars: Robert Bernasconi, Peter Eli Gordon, Marion Heinz, Theodore Kisiel and Slavoj Žižek.
The seminar, which was held while Heidegger was serving as National Socialist rector of the University of Freiburg, represents important evidence of the development of Heidegger's political thought. The text consists of ten 'protocols' on the seminar sessions, composed by students and reviewed by Heidegger. The first session's protocol is a rather personal commentary on the atmosphere in the classroom, but the remainder have every appearance of being faithful transcripts of Heidegger's words, in which he raises a variety of fundamental questions about nature, history and the state. The seminar culminates in an attempt to sketch a political philosophy that supports the 'Führer state'. The text is important evidence for anyone considering the tortured question of Heidegger's Nazism and its connection to his philosophy in general.
I am uploading the table of contents and editors' introduction.
Being and Truth, by Martin Heidegger. Translated, with an introduction and glossary, by Gregory F... more Being and Truth, by Martin Heidegger. Translated, with an introduction and glossary, by Gregory Fried and Richard Polt. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2010.
(http://www.iupress.indiana.edu/product_info.php?products_id=807895)
In these lectures, delivered in 1933-1934 while he was Rector of the University of Freiburg and an active supporter of the National Socialist regime, Martin Heidegger addresses the history of metaphysics and the notion of truth from Heraclitus to Hegel. First published in German in 2001, these two lecture courses offer a sustained encounter with Heidegger's thinking during a period when he attempted to give expression to his highest ambitions for a philosophy engaged with politics and the world. While the lectures are strongly nationalistic and celebrate the revolutionary spirit of the time, they also attack theories of racial supremacy in an attempt to stake out a distinctively Heideggerian understanding of what it means to be a people. This volume offers valuable insight into Heidegger's views on language, truth, animality, and life, as well as his political thought and activity.
I am uploading the table of contents and translators' foreword.
Twilight of the Idols, by Friedrich Nietzsche. Translated with notes by Richard Polt, introductio... more Twilight of the Idols, by Friedrich Nietzsche. Translated with notes by Richard Polt, introduction by Tracy Strong. Indianapolis: Hackett, 1997.
https://www.hackettpublishing.com/twilight-of-the-idols
Twilight of the Idols presents a vivid, compressed overview of many of Nietzsche’s mature ideas, including his attack on Plato’s Socrates and on the Platonic legacy in Western philosophy and culture. Polt provides a trustworthy rendering of Nietzsche’s text in contemporary American English, complete with notes prepared by the translator and Tracy Strong. An authoritative Introduction by Strong makes this an outstanding edition. Select Bibliography and Index.
This talk, based on my forthcoming Heidegger on Presence, discusses three questions. 1. Is there ... more This talk, based on my forthcoming Heidegger on Presence, discusses three questions.
1. Is there evidence outside philosophical texts that presence was particularly important for the Greeks? I consider some lines from Pindar.
2. Is there evidence in philosophical texts? I look at some arguments Heidegger makes in his 1930 lecture course The Essence of Human Freedom.
3. Is Heidegger trying to recover presencing, physis, as the true meaning of being?
Heidegger Circle, 2024
"Being is presence," writes Heidegger. This "decisive experience of my path of thinking cannot be... more "Being is presence," writes Heidegger. This "decisive experience of my path of thinking cannot be remembered often enough" (GA 98: 278). But what does he mean by "being" and "presence"? Is his statement phenomenological or historical? Critical or appreciative? This paper begins to explore the issues.
As a taste of the challenge of Heidegger’s private writings, I interpret the opening of Über den ... more As a taste of the challenge of Heidegger’s private writings, I interpret the opening of Über den Anfang (GA 70, 1941)—not without some preliminaries that are necessary before we can begin to begin. How can we approach this “treatise” on its own terms? What mood does it call for? How do we get a feel for its idiosyncratic vocabulary, especially if we are discussing it in English? What other texts can come to our aid? What are some questions that arise as we make our way into the dense language of its first section?
What do moods such as the subjunctive and optative disclose? Has the indicative been unjustly pri... more What do moods such as the subjunctive and optative disclose? Has the indicative been unjustly privileged over so-called “irrealis” moods?
Panel: Heidegger and Grammar
Heidegger Circle, Boston University, 2023
Back to the Things Themselves, 1994
What is a typewriter? -- We know that this question, like all "what is it?" questions, is not inn... more What is a typewriter? -- We know that this question, like all "what is it?" questions, is not innocent. It is a demand for a type, a form -- it is an eidetic question. According to Husserlian orthodoxy, the eidos is to be discovered through the technique of "free imaginative variation." We begin with a concrete example of the thing, and imaginatively subtract one feature, then another, discovering in the process which features are essential and which are not. But how free is imaginative variation?
Presented at the North Texas Philosophical Association, April 1, 2023. A longer, revised, and ann... more Presented at the North Texas Philosophical Association, April 1, 2023. A longer, revised, and annotated version of this paper is available as "Existential Choice Revisited" in The Routledge Handbook of Contemporary Existentialism, ed. Kevin Aho, Megan Altman, and Hans Pedersen (2024).
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While I agree with most of Davis’s interpretations and criticisms of Heidegger, I suggest that n... more While I agree with most of Davis’s interpretations and criticisms of Heidegger, I suggest that not all willing can be understood as ecstatic-incorporation, and that the will is not necessarily to be avoided. Presented at North American Heidegger Conference, Northern Illinois University, May 2008.
Thoughts on art, love, and play in Heidegger and Nietzsche, with references to Aristotle and Hera... more Thoughts on art, love, and play in Heidegger and Nietzsche, with references to Aristotle and Heraclitus.
Comments on truth and untruth in Heidegger's lectures on Plato's Sophist.
Observations on seeking truth vs. possessing truth in Plato's Republic.
A discussion of everydayness with reference to Heidegger, Unamuno, Kierkegaard, and Buddhism.
A longer version of this text has been published as "The Language of the Irreal" in Journal of Co... more A longer version of this text has been published as "The Language of the Irreal" in Journal of Continental Philosophy 3:1/2 (2022): 23-50.
El subjuntivo y otros modos llamados "irrealis" en la lingüística provocan preguntas científicas, literarias y sobre todo fenomenológicas. ¿Cuál es el estatus ontológico del dominio revelado por los modos irreales? ¿Cómo solicita este dominio la significación? ¿Es lo irreal una mera ilusión? ¿Nos distraye de lo real? Propongo que nuestras incursiones en lo irreal ofrecen formas indispensables de interpretar a lo real. Sin lo irreal, lo real no podría mostrársenos. Lo irreal es necesario para el lenguaje, para la verdad, y para nuestro propio ser.
Since our being is ecstatic, we have always already been “translated” into a space of meaning. Th... more Since our being is ecstatic, we have always already been “translated” into a space of meaning. This hermeneutic space is not hermetic, but permeable: it allows us to be translated farther, into foreign spaces and meanings. Heidegger’s unconventional translations of Greek words are meant to translate his readers into a world that is unfamiliar to them, but to which they are deeply indebted. He presupposes, however, that his audience is already familiar with the traditional translations, which dull the unfamiliarity of the ancient world. Today’s translators of Heidegger into English should not confidently make this assumption. How can we present both the traditional and the Heideggerian translations of ancient concepts, while triangulating coherently among German, Greek, and English?
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The imperative “be yourself” is demanding and success is elusive, but the challenge of authentici... more The imperative “be yourself” is demanding and success is elusive, but the challenge of authenticity faces every human being. Authenticity presents a series of enigmas, in particular when it comes to one’s own past. How does an authentic person relate to the past? How can you authentically be who you were? This project can take many inauthentic turns, including rigid adherence to the past and efforts to break free from it altogether. The experiences of having abused others or been abused by them create weights that we may try to eliminate through strategies such as revenge, oblivion, or fantasies of eternity—eternal salvation, eternal punishment, or the affirmation of the eternal recurrence of the same. But these strategies may be futile, inauthentic attempts to overcome human temporality. Is there a way to accept our temporality but learn to transform the weight of the past into present and future depth? — This talk was presented in memory of Charles Guignon at the USF conference "Philosophy in Friendship: Remembering Drs. Guignon and Schönfeld," April 10, 2021.
Cada día nos afrontamos al reto de ser los que hemos sido—de sernos auténticamente, es decir, sin... more Cada día nos afrontamos al reto de ser los que hemos sido—de sernos auténticamente, es decir, sin mentir a nosotros mismos y sin pretender a existir de una manera incompatible con la condición humana, una condición tanto libre como endeudada y cargada de responsibilidad. ¿Cómo figura el haber sido en la autenticidad? ¿Qué significaría haber sido de la manera adecuada?
I try to develop a language that can approach the experience of turning points without denying th... more I try to develop a language that can approach the experience of turning points without denying their irreducible uniqueness. These moments are emergencies in which new significance emerges. Emergencies are critical points, crises, that decide what things mean to us and how things come into appearance. These moments are singularities or points—not points in time, but punctures of time, moments when temporality is stressed, burst, and transformed. I look at the concept of a “point” in several fields in order to understand emergencies by analogy. I consider the role of freedom in these moments, with some observations on the temporality of narratives.
(For the journal article based on this presentation, see "A Running Leap into the There" in my "... more (For the journal article based on this presentation, see "A Running Leap into the There" in my "papers" section.)
Heidegger’s reactions in 1936 to his own book, Being and Time, are contained in his Running Notes on “Being and Time” (Laufende Anmerkungen zu “Sein und Zeit”), which have now been published in the eighty-second volume of his writings. Among the many thoughts in the Running Notes, one theme dominates: what was presented in Being and Time as a phenomenology of Dasein, understood as the human way of being, should instead be conceived as projecting a new path for humanity. We are invited to “leap” onto this new path in order to initiate a new epoch. This recurring thought in the Running Notes concerns both the content and the procedure of Being and Time—including the book’s characterizations of the being of Dasein, its thoughts on Dasein’s relation to being as such, and its phenomenological method: phenomenology, according to the Running Notes, is only able to describe the given, rather than leaping into the potential. The Running Notes will provoke readers to reexamine how they read Being and Time, to rethink the development of Heidegger’s thought, and to reconsider the legitimacy of his manner of thinking.
Presented at the University of Ottawa, November 2018.
We remember the past and we forget it. But where is it? I pursue this question by way of various ... more We remember the past and we forget it. But where is it? I pursue this question by way of various phenomena and philosophers, paying special attention to Heidegger’s concept of the forgottenness of being and his exploration of forgetting in a recently published, unfinished essay.
We joined Laurence Hemming and Aaron Turner's "Heidegger and Classical Thought" reading group (ht... more We joined Laurence Hemming and Aaron Turner's "Heidegger and Classical Thought" reading group (https://www.heideggerandclassicalthought.com) on February 28, 2024 to discuss our translation of Heidegger's "Introduction to Metaphysics" and some broader issues regarding philosophical translation.
Thomas Sheehan is interviewed by Richard Polt and Gregory Fried about his book "Making Sense of H... more Thomas Sheehan is interviewed by Richard Polt and Gregory Fried about his book "Making Sense of Heidegger: A Paradigm Shift" (2015).
In a time of universal publicity, we need privacing: practices that deliberately create a sphere ... more In a time of universal publicity, we need privacing: practices that deliberately create a sphere where being matters more than seeming.
http://thephilosophicalsalon.com/on-privacing/
Also published in The Philosophical Salon: Twenty-First Century Speculations, Reflections, Interventions, ed. Michael Marder and Patricia Vieira. London: Open Humanities Press, 2017.
Research in Phenomenology , 2009
Philosophia, 2019
Peter Trawny’s Heidegger: A Critical Introduction examines the various phases of the philosopher’... more Peter Trawny’s Heidegger: A Critical Introduction examines the various phases of the philosopher’s thought, with special attention to questions of politics and antisemitism. This review sums up the book and discusses the relevance of Heidegger today for analytic philosophy, Jewish thought, and political philosophy.
This review considers Rowe's 2012 translation of the Republic, with particular attention to his r... more This review considers Rowe's 2012 translation of the Republic, with particular attention to his rendition of five key passages. The review was published in Teaching Philosophy 36:4 (December 2013): 427-431.
Review of Plato’s “Republic,” by Alain Badiou. Teaching Philosophy 37:1 (March 2014): 122-126.
This volume presents a lecture course delivered by Heidegger in Summer Semester 1924 at the Unive... more This volume presents a lecture course delivered by Heidegger in Summer Semester 1924 at the University of Marburg in which he examines a variety of Aristotelian texts, elucidating key concepts and exploring how these concepts are rooted in the Greek experience of the world.
A review of the 2012 translation of Beiträge zur Philosophie by Richard Rojcewicz and Daniela Val... more A review of the 2012 translation of Beiträge zur Philosophie by Richard Rojcewicz and Daniela Vallega-Neu.
“The Question Concerning Heidegger.” (Review of Heidegger: The Question of Being and History, by ... more “The Question Concerning Heidegger.” (Review of Heidegger: The Question of Being and History, by Jacques Derrida.) Los Angeles Review of Books, June 27, 2016.
Continental Philosophy Review, 2007
Can the political be reduced to the calculable? Stuart Elden proposes that the answer to this que... more Can the political be reduced to the calculable? Stuart Elden proposes that the answer to this question is no, that this answer has deep implications, and that the question itself calls for an extensive historical and philosophical investigation. Speaking Against Number contributes to this investigation by retracing Heidegger’s inquiries into politics and calculation in a way that squarely faces Heidegger’s political errors while preserving his best insights. Elden follows scholars such as Theodore Kisiel in paying close attention to the development of Heidegger’s thought in its context and to the unfolding nuances of his polyglot vocabulary. Elden’s findings are multidimensional, yet he manages to keep his book relatively readable and concise.The title of the book is cleverly reflected in its three main chapters: “Speaking: Rhetorical Politics,” “Against: Polemical Politics,” and “Number: Calculative Politics.” Chapter 1 focuses on Heidegger’s account of discourse, speech, or logos, as
Richard Polt, Review of The Religion of the Future, by Roberto Mangabeira Unger. Political Theory... more Richard Polt, Review of The Religion of the Future, by Roberto Mangabeira Unger. Political Theory 43:5 (October 2015): 695-699.
Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, 1995
Review of The Question of Being: A Reversal of Heidegger, by Stanley Rosen. Canadian Philosophica... more Review of The Question of Being: A Reversal of Heidegger, by Stanley Rosen. Canadian Philosophical Reviews 14:4 (August 1994): 286-288.
Adluri's work stands out for the radicality of its argument, the subtlety of its interdisciplinar... more Adluri's work stands out for the radicality of its argument, the subtlety of its interdisciplinary interpretations, and the forthright passion that motivates it. Adluri's radical reading denies that Parmenides is the enemy of plurality and becoming.
Review of Andrew Haas, The Irony of Heidegger (Continuum, 2007)
Research in Phenomenology, 2020
"Thinking Through the Politics of Black and Brown: Heidegger in the Thirties" Research in Phenome... more "Thinking Through the Politics of Black and Brown: Heidegger in the Thirties"
Research in Phenomenology 50 (2020) 122–131
Meta, 2019
"The euporia of traumatic ontology" META: RESEARCH IN HERMENEUTICS, PHENOMENOLOGY, AND PRACTICAL ... more "The euporia of traumatic ontology"
META: RESEARCH IN HERMENEUTICS, PHENOMENOLOGY, AND PRACTICAL PHILOSOPHY VOL. XI, NO. 1 / JUNE 2019: 297-301
German Studies Review, 2021
German Studies Review, Volume 44, Number 1, February 2021, pp. 197-199
Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews, 2019
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Heidegger Studies, 2021
"Historicity and the Problem of Antisemitism," Heidegger Studies, 2021, 283-301. I disagree with... more "Historicity and the Problem of Antisemitism," Heidegger Studies, 2021, 283-301.
I disagree with some of Prof. Radloff's characterizations of my book, but leave it to readers to judge for themselves.
Continental Philosophy Review, 2007
Continental Philosophy Review 40 (2007): 447–450
German Studies Review, 2007
German Studies Review 30/2 (2007): 430-31
The Review of Metaphysics, 2007
The Review of Metaphysics, Vol. 61, No. 2 (Dec., 2007), pp. 439-441
This bibliography is intended to make it easy for readers to survey the Gesamtausgabe and its tra... more This bibliography is intended to make it easy for readers to survey the Gesamtausgabe and its translations into English, along with volumes of Heidegger's correspondence and a few other texts. Last updated July 2024. Corrections and additions are welcome.
This document attempts to collect and translate all the references to Jews, Jewry, and Judaism in... more This document attempts to collect and translate all the references to Jews, Jewry, and Judaism in the volumes of Heidegger's Black Notebooks that have been published so far (Gesamtausgabe 94-97).
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A dialogue between Abraham and Euthyphro, written in 2000.