Heidegger and the Ground of Ethics: A Study of Mitsein

Description

Heidegger thought seriously about the implications of human coexistence, and this book shows that conceptions of trust and responsibility that lie at the very heart of morality are to be found in the sketch of Mitsein--our being together with one another in the world--offered in Being and Time. Written by one of the preeminent interpreters of Heidegger, this book is an important statement about the basis of human sociality that is a major contribution to the continuing debates about Heidegger in particular, and ethics in general.

"Frederick Olafson makes the case sensibly and eloquently that, despite Heidegger's failed personal and political judgments, "the profoundly original constellation of ideas he introduced in Being and Time can make and important contribution to our understading of the whole ethical side of our lives" (p.6). His effort in the latter part of the book to build just such a more complete ethical perspective on the "ground" of Heidegger's fundamental ontology is thoughtful and interesting., if less compelling because so syncretistic. Still, Olafson's philosophical project is an important one which deserves the attention and efforts of others." Review of Metaphysics