Heidegger's Children: Hannah Arendt, Karl Löwith, Hans Jonas, and Herbert Marcuse

276 Pages·2015·4.66 MB·english

by  Richard Wolin

H E I D E G G E R ’ S
C H I L D R E N

H E I D E G G E R ’ S
C H I L D R E N
HH EE II DD EE GG GG EE RR ’’ SS
HANNAH ARENDT, KARL LÖWITH,
HANS JONAS, AND HERBERT MARCUSE
CC HH II LL DD RR EE NN
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HHAANNSS JJOONNAASS,, AANNDD HHEERRBBEERRTT MMAARRCCUUSSEE
• R I C H A R D W O L I N •
with a new preface by the author
PRINCETONUNIVERSITYPRESS•PRINCETONANDOXFORD
•• RR II CC HH AA RR DD WW OO LL II NN ••
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Wolin, Richard.
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Wolin, Richard.
1. HeidISeBggNe r0, -M69a1r-t0i7n0, 1198-989 (–h1a9rd76co—veInr fl: uaelkn.c ep.ape2r.)Jewish
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and Herbert Marcuse / Richard Wolin.
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ISBN 0-619913-—070d1c92-19 (har2d0c0o1v0e3r 2:1 0al5k. paper)
British Library Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available
1. Heidegger, Martin, 1889–1976—Influence. 2. Jewish
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FOR
JU¨ RGEN HABERMAS
IN ADMIRATION AND GRATITUDE

Do not become anxious, you German republicans; the German
revolution will not take place any more pleasantly and gently for
having been preceded by the Kantian critique, Fichtean
transcendental idealism, or even natural philosophy. Through these
theories revolutionary forces have built up which only await the day
on which they may break loose, filling the world with horror and
awe. Kantians will appear who want nothing to do with mercy even
in the phenomenal world; they will plough up without pity the very
soil of our European life with sword and axe, in order to eradicate
every last root of the past. . . . Armed Fichteans will arise, whose
fanaticism of will can be restrained neither through fear nor through
self-interest. . . . More terrible than all will be the natural
philosophers, who will participate actively in any German
revolution, identifying themselves with the very work of destruction.
If the hand of the Kantian strikes swift and sure because his heart is
not moved by any traditional reverence; if the Fichtean courageously
defies all danger because for him it does not exist at all in reality; so
the natural philosopher will be terrible, for he has allied himself to
the primal forces of nature. He can conjure up the demonic powers
of ancient German pantheism and that lust for battle that we find
among the ancient Germans will flame within him.
H H, History of Philosophy and Religion
in Germany (1834)

● C O N T E N T S ●
Preface to the New Paperback Edition
xi
PPrreeffaaccee
xxliix
PROLOGUE
“Todesfuge” and “Todtnauberg”
1
ONE
Introduction: Philosophy and Family Romance
5
TWO
The German-Jewish Dialogue: Way Stations of Misrecognition
21
THREE
Hannah Arendt: Kultur, “Thoughtlessness,” and Polis Envy
30
FOUR
Karl Lo¨with: The Stoic Response to Modern Nihilism
70
FIVE
Hans Jonas: The Philosopher of Life
101