Heidegger and a Metaphysics of Feeling: Angst and the Finitude of Being(Continuum Studies in Continental Philosophy)

The early Heidegger of Being and Time is generally believed to locate finitude strictly within the individual, based on an understanding that this individual will have to face its death alone and in its singularity. Facing death is characterized by the mood of Angst (anxiety), as death is not an experience one can otherwise access outside of one's own demise. In the later Heidegger, the finitude of the individual is rooted in the finitude of the world it lives in and within which it actualizes its possibilities, or Being.  Against the standard reading that the early Heidegger places the emphasis on individual finitude, this important new book shows how the later model of the finitude of Being is developed in Being and Time. Elkholy questions the role of Angst in Heidegger's discussion of death and it is at the point of transition from the nothing back to the world of projects that the author locates finitude and shows that Heidegger's later thinking of the finitude of Being is rooted in Being and Time.

Table of Contents:
Introduction: The Yoking of Angst to Aletheia  1. Introduction to the project and method of Being and Time 2. Being-toward-death: Stage one of Angst 3. Being-guilty-Stage Two of Angst 4. Angst and Aletheia Conclusion: Angst and Historicity  Works Cited

About the Author :
Sharin N. Elkholy is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at the University of Houston--Downtown.  She received her degree in Philosophy from the New School for Social Research In New York.

Review :
"Sharin N. Elkholy's Heidegger and a Metaphysics of Feeling: Angst and the Finitude of Being, provides incisive commentary on one of the most difficult thinkers of the postmodern philosophy. The renown of Heidegger's genius is matched by his often muddling, too-creative language. Elkholy successfully manages to highlight the former while clarifying the latter. Philosophical practitioners, serious readers of philosophy, and expositors on Heidegger are better for it...Upon finishing the book, one wishes that all commentary and interpretation of Heidegger would be as concise. Also of great interest to the reader and serious student of Heidegger are Elkholy's brief comments on his theory of "ontological homelessness." For the sake of philosophical practitioners at least, I hope the very capable Elkholy pursues an in-depth exposition of this timely theory." - Tim Weldon, Philosophical Practice, Vol. 3 No. 3, October 2008 Mention -Book News, February 2009 "Sharin Elkholy's Heidegger and a Metaphysics of Feeling offers an original interpretation of the role of Angst in Heidegger's Being and Time. Against the grain of many and varied commentators on this theme, Elkholy's central thesis is that the experience of Angst or anxiety, and the concomitant encounter with the nothing fundamentally disindividuates and strips inauthentic Da-sein of any and all sense of selfhood." - Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews ... very well-written and the author's position is well-argued. 'In sum, instead of a Habermasian notion of inter-subjectivity which depends upon "rational discourse" and formal modes of communication as a means of bringing distinct communities together, Elkholy envisions a different path toward understanding others -- one that takes account of the pre-reflective moods that tie individuals to communities, history and culture.' ... this is a book that I heartily recommend to therapists of a Heideggerian persuasion for its ability to deepen an existential awareness of working with clients. The book is strictly philosophical, but its focus on the changes that are brought about as we face our human fragility in our Being-toward-death yields invaluable insights for us as practitioners.