Heidegger's Contributions to Philosophy: Life and the Last God

(Hardback)

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Contributions to Philosophy was published posthumously in 1989. The book casts Heidegger's philosophy in a wholly new light against the received opinion of Being and Time, as well as forming an important bridge between Heidegger's earlier and later works. Jason Powell's detailed and informative examination of this major work is extremely timely. Powell situates Contributions to Philosophy in the context of Heidegger's entire corpus and particularly alongside the other works he was writing in the 1930s. He shows how this important book continues to define the term 'Sein' ('Being') and further develops 'life' (here in a religious sense) as a central theme in Heidegger's work. Powell provides the reader with an overview of the significance of Contributions, its genesis and production, as well as current interpretations and its position in the received body of work on Heidegger. He explores in particular how this work relates to Heidegger magnum opus, Being and Time, and argues that Contributions was in fact the next step in Heidegger's major philosophical project as set out in his first major work.

Reviews

"...for the patient and charitable student who is perhaps already familiar with and sympathetic toward Heidegger's difficult style, or a student who is willing and able to take the "leap," Powell's introduction provides an excellent example of the esoteric and mystical reading of Heidegger's philosophy...Recommended. Elite upper-level undergraduates, graduate students, and faculty." A. N. Bunch, CHOICE, April 2008, Vol. 45, No. 8 -- A.N. Bunch

Author Bio

Jason Powell has a PhD in philosophy and is the author of Jacques Derrida: A Biography and Heidegger's Contributions to Philosophy. He has served with the British Army in Iraq, Bosnia and Kosovo and now works as a freelance writer.