What is a Human Being?: A Heideggerian View

Description

This broad, ambitious study is about human nature--treated in a way quite different from the scientific account that influences so much of contemporary philosophy. Drawing on certain basic ideas of Heidegger, the author presents an alternative to the debate waged between dualists and materialists in the philosophy of mind that involves reconceiving the way we usually think about "mental" life. Olafson argues that familiar contrasts between the "physical" and the "psychological" break down under closer scrutiny. They need to be replaced by a conception of human being in which we are not entities compounded out of body and mind, but unitary entities that are distinguished by "having a world," which is very different from simply being a part of the world.

"This book involves an admirable attempt to find a common ground with physicalist theories of human nature by phenomonological descriptions of knowing, feeling, and acting that dissolve mentalism. At the same time, it criticizes physicalist theories via a kind of transcendental argument since such theories overlook while presupposing the phenomenon of presence. Thus it draws well on the traditions of descriptive and transcendental phenomenology." Michael Barber, the Modern Schoolman "This book will surely play a dominant role in ongoing discussions of personhood and personal identity. The importance of Olafson's work lies in the fact that it bridges the gap between a broadly analytical approach to the nature of these issues and a phenomenological approach. Due to both its wide scope and its constructive nature, this book is uniquely equipped to appeal to any philosopher with an interest in the nature of human minds and persons." Choice