The Tradition via Heidegger An Essay on the Meaning of Being in the
This book is not addressed to beginning students in philosophy so much as it is addressed to those who, though fairly well-versed in the philosophical tradition, find themselves frankly baffled and brought up short by the writ ings of Martin Heidegger, a
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THE TRADITION VIA HEIDEGGER AN ESSAY ON THE MEANING OF BEING IN THE PHILOSOPHY OF MARTIN HElD EGGER by
JOHN N. DEELY
MARTINUS NIJHOFF / THE HAGUE / 1971
© 1971 by Martinus Nfjhoff, The Hague,
Netherlands
All rights reserved, including the right to translate or to reproduce this book or parts thereof in any form ISBN-\3: 978-90-247-5111-2 DOl: 10.1007/978-94-010-3025-0
e-ISBN:978-94-010-3025-O
TO RALPH AUSTIN POWELL, FIRST OF ALL, AND TO JACQUES AND RAisSA MARITAIN, FROM A DISTANCE, THIS ESSAY IS DEDICATED
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Some attempt must be made to acknowledge those debts of the spirit which, because they are of the spirit, bind us to our fellows in ties that last as long as we ourselves and in truth make us who we are. The writer wishes to express his lasting debt to Benedict Ashley, former President, and to the entire faculty of the Aquinas Institute, by whose teaching and example my studies were initially oriented toward the great themes of philosophical inquiry; and in particular, to my friend Dr. Ralph Powell of the Graduate Faculty, whose philosophical insight communicates itself with a ceaselessly astonishing compass and richness of detail in such a way as to make it impossible for those who have worked under him to be finally satisfied with any effort which, while claiming to be philosophical, contents itself with categories oflanguage, culture, or even history, let alone the partisan doctrines of any "school", ancient or modern. Special thanks must be given too to Dr. William J. Richardson, of Fordham University, who most graciously provided an incisive and authoritative critique of an early draft of this study, as is explained in the "Postcript" at the end ofthis book. On a more "practical" plane, finally, I want to thank Eva Leo, Leon Pearson, Simone Deely and Joseph Novak, for their generous assistance in proof-reading the final text.
PREFACE
This book is not addressed to beginning students in philosophy so much as it is addressed to those who, though fairly well-versed in the philosophical tradition, find themselves frankly baffled and brought up short by the writings of Martin Heidegger, and who-while recognizing the novelty of the Heideggerean enterprise - may sometimes find themselves wondering if this "thinking of Being" is after all rich enough to deserve still further effort on their part. That at least was my own state of mind after a couple of years spent in studying Heidegger. Then one day, in preparing for a seminar, I suddenly saw, not indeed all of what Heidegger is about, but at least where he stands in terms of previous philosophers, and what is the ground of his thinking. After that, it became possible to assess certain strengths and weaknesses of his thought in terms of his own methodology vis-a-vis those earlier thinkers who, without having dreamed of anything quite like a Daseinsanalyse, had yet recognized in explicit terms the feature of experience on which the identification of Sein (and consequently the Daseinsanalyse) depends for its possibility. This book does n
