Heidegger and the Problem of Phenomena

Description

This book offers a broad critical study of Heidegger's lifelong effort to come to terms with the problem of phenomena and the nature of phenomenology: How do we experience beings as meaningful phenomena? What does it mean to phenomenologically describe and explicate our experience of phenomena? The book is a chronological investigation of how Heidegger's struggle with the problem of phenomena unfolds during the main stages of his philosophical development: from the early Freiburg lecture courses 1919-1923, over the Marburg-period and the publication of Being and Time in 1927, up to his later thinking stretching from the 1930s to the early 1970s. A central theme of the book is the tension between, on the one hand, Heidegger's effort to elaborate Husserl's phenomenological approach by applying it to our pre-theoretical experience of existentially charged phenomena, and, on the other hand, his drive towards a radically historicist form of thinking. Heidegger's main critical engagements with Husserl are examined and assessed along the way. Besides offering a new comprehensive interpretation of Heidegger's philosophical development, the book critically examines the philosophical power and problems of Heidegger's successive attempts to account for the structure of phenomena and the possibility of phenomenology. In particular, it develops a critique of Heidegger's radical historicism, arguing that it ultimately makes Heidegger unable to account either for the truth of our understanding or for the ethical-existential significance of other persons. The book also contains a chapter which probes the philosophical commitments that motivate Heidegger's political engagement in National Socialism.

Fredrik Westerlund is a senior researcher at the University of Jyvaskyla, Finland, who currently works in a research project funded by the Academy of Finland. Westerlund also teaches philosophy at the University of Helsinki. His research interests include phenomenology, moral psychology, ethics, understanding and knowledge, emotions, shame, and love.

Fredrik Westerlund's book is a breathtaking work of Heidegger-interpretation and a profoundly original argument for the irreducibility of "phenomena" - the meaningful claims that things in the world and other human beings make on us. Clearly written, the book challenges orthodoxies while providing an excellent starting point for anyone seeking philosophical and critical access to Heidegger's entire path of thinking. * Steven Crowell, Joseph and Joanna Nazro Mullen Professor of Philosophy, Rice University, USA * Fredrik Westerlund's engaging and thought-provoking book, Heidegger and the Problem of Phenomena offers a sustained criticism of Heidegger's work from the early Freiburg lectures onwards. Although Westerlund's verdicts - for instance, on Heidegger's radical historicism and his National Socialist involvement - may sometimes seem harsh, they are always backed up by careful arguments. Moreover, the criticisms notwithstanding, Westerlund is not merely out to pinpoint Heidegger's shortcomings; he also carefully extracts the positive lessons Heidegger's philosophy has to teach us. Heidegger and the Problem of Phenomena is a most welcome addition to the literature - required reading for anyone interested in figuring out what Heidegger was wrong (and right) about. * Soren Overgaard, Associate Professor of Philosophy, University of Copenhagen, Denmark * Westerlund's book is an ambitiously comprehensive and provocative study of Heidegger's philosophy from his earliest lectures to his last writings. Westerlund brings an exceptional ethical sensitivity to bear on the fundamental tensions in Heidegger's thought: the results are far from flattering, but they deserve careful consideration from all Heidegger scholars. -- David Cerbone, Professor of Philosophy, West Virginia University, USA