Routledge Critical Thinkers : Martin Heidegger (Paperback)

Clark's text, following the pattern of the others, includes background information on Heidegger and its significance, the key ideas and sources, and Heidegger's continuing impact on other thinkers. As the series preface indicates, no critical thinker arises in a vacuum, so the context, influences and broader cultural environment are all important as a part of the study, something with which Heidegger might agree, although many of the thinkers in this series are also influenced greatly by the productionist metaphysics against which Heidegger spent much time and energy.

Why is Heidegger included in this series? This series is primary for critical thinking in a literary sense, and Heidegger is no literary theorist or critic per se. In fact, this is the first volume to deal primary and exclusively with this line of thinking in Heidegger. However, Heidegger's influence extended far beyond what is more traditionally considered his confines of philosophy, primarily the philosophy of metaphysics, with questions of ontology. Heidegger, by influencing some of the key thinkers in the field of literary criticism, has had a knock-on effect far exceeding his actual contributions to the subject. Intellectual `workers in the field' such as Herbert Marcuse, Hannah Arendt, Michel Foucault, and perhaps most importantly Jacques Derrida derive much in response to and reaction to Heidegger, whose influence extends into psychology, history, politics, linguistics, literary analysis, philosophy, science, and theology (and even further afield).

One of the useful features of the text is the side-bar boxes inserted at various points. For example, during the discussion on Heidegger's development of Geschichte (deep history), there are brief discussions, set apart from the primary strand of the text, on Nihilism and Explanation, developing further these ideas should the reader not be familiar with them, or at least not in the way with which Heidegger would be working with ideas derived from them. Each section on a key idea spans twenty to thirty pages, with a two-page summary concluding each, which gives a recap of the ideas (and provides a handy reference).

My first interest in Heidegger developed out of an interest in the philosophical underpinnings of politics and theology, but this volume looking at his interest in art, literature and the general mindset and development of Western culture certainly adds new dimension to the author of `Being and Time' (yet interestingly, the primary translation of `Being and Time' for English audiences is probably that done by John Macquarrie and Edward Robinson - Macquarrie being an important Anglican theologian I study). To a certain extent, this kind of volume on literary analysis violates certain ideas of Heidegger that would resist the application of productionist theories to works of art. Heidegger is probably the father of postmodernism in many respects, something that might make him uncomfortable should postmodernism slip into being yet one more school in the line of Western philosophical and intellectual development.

Clark's primary text from Heidegger for this study is not `Being and Time' as much as it is Heidegger's lecture `The Origin of the Work of Art', delivered in the 1930s and published in 1950. Heidegger applies his principles of philosophical analysis to poetry, painting, architecture and other creative enterprises. Heidegger longed for a complete break with what he saw as the single strand of Western development from the time of the Greek philosophers to the present that culminates in the death of art and the nihilistic tendencies of the modern technological world.

Clark deals with Heidegger's flirtation with the Nazi party in a frank and clear way. That Heidegger was a dues-paying member of the National Socialist party is not a matter of dispute; that Heidegger was initially entranced by the Nazi idealism is likewise fairly well established, given his promotion of their ideals early in his rectorship at the university. However, Heidegger also became disenchanted with them very early in their tenure - by 1934 Heidegger was no longer a public voice in support of them. Why then did he continue paying dues to the party? One of the more bizarre elements of Heidegger's story is the intellectual devotion given to him by students, including Jewish students such as Arendt, Marcuse, Strauss, and others, and the level of influence he had on other Jewish intellectuals such as Derrida, given his Nazi flirtations.

The concluding chapter, After Heidegger, highlights some key areas of development in relation to other thinkers, as well as points of possible exploration for the reader. Heidegger's thought vis-à-vis Derrida and Blanchot (particularly with regard to destruction/deconstruction), his thought with regard to Ricouer and Gadamer (especially his response to the idea of hermeneutics), and his ideas as they apply to the continuing development of philosophical and intellectual history, particularly in the areas of art and literature, and insure Heidegger remaining a relevant if controversial figure in intellectual development.

As do the other volumes in this series, Clark concludes with an annotated bibliography of works by Heidegger, works on Heidegger, and a good index.

While this series focuses intentionally upon literary theory, in fact this is only the starting point. For Heidegger (as for others in this series) the expanse is far too broad to be drawn into such narrow guidelines, and the important and impact of the ideas extends out into the whole range of intellectual development. As intellectual endeavours of every sort depend upon language, understanding, and interpretation, the thorough comprehension of how and why we know what we know is crucial.