Arguing for the thematic and structural unity in Heideggers thought from Being and Time right through to the later writings, this book focuses on the summons to authenticity; labeling the move as the key to identifying recurring patterns and themes in Heideggers protracted confrontation with modernity. Heidegger's thinking in the decades following the publication of Being and Time is often deemed irreconcilable with that work. Critics contrast the notion of resoluteness. in Being and Time with Heideggers post-war account of releasement in an attempt to establish a discrepancy between the allegedly voluntarist humanism of his early work and the supposedly anti-humanist thinking of his later work. By contrast, Mahon O Brien argues for the structural and thematic coherence of Heidegger's movement from authenticity to the search for an authentic free relation to the world as captured by the term releasement. By demonstrating the structural and thematic unity of Heidegger s thought in its entirety, O Brien paves the way for a more measured and philosophically grounded understanding of the issues at stake in the Heidegger controversy.

With my own introduction and epilogue, Towards a New Human Being gathers original essays by early career researchers and established academic figures in response to To Be Born, my most recent book. The contributors approach key issues of this book from their own scientific fields and perspectives - through calls for a different way of bringing up and educating children, the constitution of a new environmental and sociocultural milieu or the criticism of past metaphysics and the introduction of new themes into the philosophical horizon. However, all the essays which compose the volume correspond to proposals for the advent of a new human being - so answering the subtitle of To Be Born: Genesis of a New Human Being. To Be Born thus acts as a background from which each author had the opportunity to develop and think in their own way. As such Towards a New Human Being is part of a longer-term undertaking in which I engaged together and in dialogue with more or less confirmed thinkers with a view to giving birth to a new human being and building a new world. -Luce Irigaray

Martin Heidegger was a captivating and controversial philosopher, known for his highly original and challenging philosophical concepts, as well as his association with - and sympathy for - the Nazi Party during World War II.Providing an introduction to both the man and his philosophy, this book is a concise, jargon-free journey through his life and thought. The publication of Heidegger's private 'Black Notebooks' from the 1930s and 40s has led to renewed interest in the relationship between Heidegger's philosophy and his political views and caused widespread confusion and condemnation. This short book puts many of these problems into context and offers an honest appraisal of Heidegger's disturbing political views and how they might relate to some of the perennial themes that occupied his philosophical imagination. A fascinating portrait of a brilliant, complicated and often unattractive human being, the book will prove invaluable for students with some familiarity with Heidegger's thought, students approaching Heidegger's work for the first time and non-specialists looking to acquaint themselves with a great, yet problematic, twentieth century thinker.

Martin Heidegger was a captivating and controversial philosopher, known for his highly original and challenging philosophical concepts, as well as his association with - and sympathy for - the Nazi Party during World War II.Providing an introduction to both the man and his philosophy, this book is a concise, jargon-free journey through his life and thought. The publication of Heidegger's private 'Black Notebooks' from the 1930s and 40s has led to renewed interest in the relationship between Heidegger's philosophy and his political views and caused widespread confusion and condemnation. This short book puts many of these problems into context and offers an honest appraisal of Heidegger's disturbing political views and how they might relate to some of the perennial themes that occupied his philosophical imagination. A fascinating portrait of a brilliant, complicated and often unattractive human being, the book will prove invaluable for students with some familiarity with Heidegger's thought, students approaching Heidegger's work for the first time and non-specialists looking to acquaint themselves with a great, yet problematic, twentieth century thinker.

Heidegger, History and the Holocaust is an important contribution to the longstanding debate concerning Martin Heidegger's association with National Socialism. Although a difficult topic, this ambitious new work moves the entire debate on the Heidegger controversy forward. Following Being and Time Heidegger expands on his notion of authenticity and related notions such as historicity and discusses the possibility of an authentic Dasein of a people along structurally consistent lines to his account of authenticity in Being and Time. O'Brien argues that the same difficulties which appear to hamstring the early account of authenticity further affect the notion of an authentic Dasein of a people; Heidegger's political myopia in the thirties can thus be attributed to an underlying failure to come to terms with some of the difficulties discussed in this study. O'Brien concedes that Heidegger's philosophy is influenced by its historical period and context but argues that, however inflammatory, Heidegger's rhetoric cannot be simply reduced to crude Nazi jingoism. This book is a genuinely philosophical approach to the Heidegger controversy and a much-needed re-examination of his ideas and influences.

Heidegger's thinking in the decades following the publication of Being and Time is often deemed irreconcilable with that work. Critics contrast the notion of "resoluteness" in Being and Time with Heidegger's post-war account of "releasement" in an attempt to establish a discrepancy between the allegedly voluntarist humanism of his early work and the supposedly 'anti-humanist' thinking of his later work. By contrast, Mahon O'Brien argues for the structural and thematic coherence of Heidegger's movement from authenticity to the search for an authentic free relation to the world - as captured by the term "releasement". By demonstrating the structural and thematic unity of Heidegger's thought in its entirety, O'Brien paves the way for a more measured and philosophically grounded understanding of the issues at stake in the Heidegger controversy.