Heidegger and the Measure of Truth

Denis McManus presents a new interpretation of Martin Heidegger's early vision of our subjectivity and of the world we inhabit. Heidegger's 'fundamental ontology' allows us to understand the creature that thinks as also one which acts, moves, even touches the world around it, a creature at home in the same ordinary world in which we too live our lives when outside of the philosophical closet; it also promises to free us from seemingly intractable philosophical problems, such as scepticism about the external world and other minds. But many of the concepts central to that vision are elusive; and some of the most widely accepted interpretations of Heidegger's vision harbour within themselves deep and important unclarities, while others foist upon us hopeless species of idealism. Heidegger and the Measure of Truth offers a new way of understanding that vision. Drawing on an examination of Heidegger's work throughout the 1920s, McManus takes as central to that vision the proposals that propositional thought presupposes a mastery of what might be called a 'measure', and that mastery of such a 'measure' requires a recognizably 'worldly' subject. These insights provide the basis for a novel reading of key elements of Heidegger's 'fundamental ontology', including his concept of 'Being-in-the-world', his critique of scepticism, his claim to disavow both realism and idealism, and his difficult reflections on the nature of truth, science, authenticity and philosophy itself. According to this interpretation, Heidegger's central claims identify genuine demands that we must meet if we are to achieve the feat of thinking determinate thoughts about the world around us.

Table of Contents:
Preface Introduction Part One 1: The Concept of 'Constitution' 2: 'Constitution' and the Categories Part Two 3: Vorhandenheit 4: Dreyfus's Concept of the 'Background' Part Three 5: The Measure of Truth 6: The 'Founding' of Measurement in an Understanding without Fit Part Four 7: Being-in-the-world and Truth Revisited 8: Vorhandenheit and Zuhandenheit Revisited 9: Metaphilosophical Issues and Further Questions Bibliography

About the Author :
Denis McManus studied philosophy at Oxford, Cambridge, and Harvard, and is Reader in Philosophy at the University of Southampton. His research concentrates on the work of Martin Heidegger and Ludwig Wittgenstein. He is the author of The Enchantment of Words: Wittgenstein's Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus (OUP 2006) and editor of Wittgenstein and Scepticism (Routledge, 2004).

Review :
`It is, I think, a treasure trove of exciting discoveries and brilliant insights. It is an impressive and elegant challenge to current philosophical interpretations of Heidegger's early work.' International Journal of Philosophical Studies `a must read for anyone grappling with this difficult thinker.' Daniel O. Dahlstrom, Mind `This book is deceptively economical in its writing, with McManus managing to sustain his focus on his argument whilst engaging along the way in several detours involving wider philosophical debates . . . he presents a clear and convincing case for rethinking the early Heidegger not simply as a source for phenomenology but generally as a source of current philosophical thought.' Todd Mei, The Philosophical Quarterly `Denis McManus proposes an approach to Heidegger's early thought that centers on Heidegger's understanding of how the phenomenon of truth is tied to practice . . . This is a bold, exciting, and challenging approach . . . Heidegger and the Measure of Truth is a powerful and challenging book, one with which all future discussion of Being and Time will have to reckon. It is, in my assessment, one of the best and most important books written on Heidegger over the past decade, and it establishes McManus as a leading interpreter of Heidegger's early thought.' William Blattner, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews