Heidegger and Classical Thought: (SUNY series in Contemporary Continental Philosophy)

Explores Martin Heidegger's rich and profound engagement with ancient philosophy and literature and demonstrates both his essential place within the discourse of classical studies and the fundamental significance of classical thought for his own work. Despite a sustained and fruitful relationship with the classical philologists of his day, Martin Heidegger's status among classicists has long since been strained, especially in the Anglophone tradition. Heidegger and Classical Thought reemphasizes both Heidegger's importance to classical discourse and the significance of classical discourse for Heidegger's own work. The essays found in this book demonstrate the depth and breadth of Heidegger's engagement with classical thought throughout his life, from his early engagements with Aristotle and Plato to his profound readings of the early Greek thinkers. At the same time, this book shows how reading Heidegger's interpretation of classical thought offers new and innovative ways to approach and study antiquity.

Table of Contents:
Introduction Aaron Turner Part 1: Heidegger and Early Greek Thought 1. Heidegger, Tragedy, and the Ethics of the Uncanny: Reading Sophocles's Antigone Charles Bambach 2. Heidegger's "Pre-Aristotelians": Nietzsche and Heidegger on Anaximander Babette Babich 3. Alien Historicity: Ancestral Fictions in Heidegger, Derrida, and H. P. Lovecraft Mark Payne 4. Disciples of Empedocles: Hölderlin, Nietzsche, and... Heidegger? David Farrell Krell Part 2: Heidegger and Plato 5. From Parmenides to Plato via Thucydides: On the Way to Metaphysics Aaron Turner 6. Another Chorology: Reading Heidegger's Plato Books Bret W. Davis 7. The Philosopher and the City: Heidegger Reading Plato's Republic Dennis J. Schmidt Part 3: Heidegger and Aristotle 8. Heidegger's Perversion of Virtue Ethics, 1924 Sacha Golob 9. The Temporality of Life: Reading Aristotle with and Against Heidegger in Two Unpublished Seminars from 1923–1925 Francisco J. Gonzalez 10. The Sky, from Below: Heidegger, Aristotle, and the Orientation of the Gaze Claudia Baracchi 11. Pity, Fear and Catharsis from a Heideggerian Perspective Robert Eaglestone 12. Rationalizing the Animal in Humanity: On Speaking with Neither Cause nor Purpose Laurence Hemming 13. Hiding in Plain Sight: Κίνησις at the Core of Heidegger's Work Thomas Sheehan 14. Animal and World in Heidegger and Aristotle Sara Brill Abbreviations Contributors Index

About the Author :
Aaron Turner is Research Associate at Royal Holloway, University of London and a Knapp Fellow at the Knapp Foundation. He is the editor of Reconciling Ancient and Modern Philosophies of History.

Review :
"By bringing together a group of world-class scholars in their respective fields, Heidegger and Classical Thought sheds new and brilliant light on the enduring impact of Heidegger's work on classical studies. One chapter after another reveals the fruitfulness of using Heidegger's engagement with Greek thought as a means of better understanding Greek tragedy, early Greek thought, Plato, and Aristotle. This volume should be required reading for those wishing to grasp the complexity and enduring richness of the ancient Greek intellectual and moral landscape." — Shane Ewegen, author of The Way of the Platonic Socrates