chapter 4
Heidegger within the Boundaries of Mere Reason?
“Nihilism” as a Contemporary Critical Narrative
Jon Wittrock
Der Gedanke geht der That voraus, wie der Blitz dem Donner
- Heinrich Heine1
Heidegger and the Classics
That Martin Heidegger was one of the most important thinkers of the 20th
century remains indisputable; regardless of our eventual estimation of the
man and his thought, the influence of the latter cannot be denied. Even so,
however, that influence has remained to a great extent selective, in several
ways. Firstly, the earliest wave of Heideggerian influence was largely restricted
to that strand which is called, somewhat misleadingly, continental, as opposed
to analytic, philosophy.2 The terminology is misleading, of course, because many
of the most prominent of the analytic philosophers—e.g., Frege, Wittgenstein
and those of the Vienna Circle—indeed stemmed from the European conti-
nent. In recent decades, however, Heidegger’s thought has become increasingly
more respectable even among some analytic philosophers, notably with the
consistent efforts of Rorty.3
Secondly, the influence of the early magnum opus, Being and Time, has been
more pervasive than that of Heidegger’s main later works. There are several
quite obvious reasons for this: Being and Time remains unmatched in its origi-
nality and impact not only because it came first among his major works, but
also because it still resembles an ambitious work of systematic philosophy in
1 Heine 1979: 118.
2 This is not to say that Heidegger was entirely ignored—Gilbert Ryle, for example, wrote a
review of Being and Time which was originally published in Mind in 1928—it can now be
found in Ryle’s (2009) Critical Essays. Oxon: Routledge: 205ff.
3 See e.g. Rorty’s (1991) Essays on Heidegger and Others: Philosophical Papers Volume 2.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, or his entertaining musings on a counter-factual
Heidegger who did not become a National Socialist, but decided to emigrate to the u.s.
instead, in Philosophy and Social Hope. London: Penguin Books, 1999: 190ff.
© koninklijke brill nv, leiden, ���6 | doi 10.1163/9789004291454_006
88 Wittrock
the grand German tradition. Furthermore, Being and Time was published in
1927, over a decade before the outbreak of World War ii, and its impact was felt
and came to be appreciated, not the least by young Jewish scholars, before
Heidegger’s open association with National Socialism.4 True, the end of the
war did not entail the end of Heidegger’s influence, and minor later works, as
well as Heidegger’s volumes on Nietzsche based upon a series of lectures given
in the 1930’s, continued to be important to a number of critical thinkers often
on the left side of the political spectrum. Other major later works, however,
remained unpublished. But since the advent in 1989, on the centennial of
Heidegger’s birth, of the Beiträge zur Philosophie (Vom Ereignis), and its succes-
sive translations into English as Contributions to Philosophy, the balance here,
too, is beginning to shift.5 Slowly but steadily, the impact of the enigmatic for-
mulations of this major later work is beginning to be felt as interpreters rush in
and try to make sense of it.6 Furthermore, one should also mention the subse-
quent Besinnung, translated into English as Mindfulness, a translation that was
published only in 2006.
Thirdly, Heidegger’s direct influence has been felt mainly in the humanities,
whereas the social sciences have been affected more indirectly. Heidegger’s
thought has not been very influential in terms of a grand sociological vision of
the contemporary world. He is not considered a classic of sociological theory
in the same way as for example Marx, Weber, Durkheim or Parsons. There are
reasons for this; Heidegger’s scepticism towards disciplines other than philoso-
phy (or, as he later put it, thinking) is often palpable. He does not hesitate to
proclaim, repeatedly, that they can never attain truth, but only, at best, mere
4 Cf. e.g. Richard Wolin (2001) Heidegger’s Children: Hannah Arendt, Karl Löwith, Hans Jonas,
and Herbert Marcuse. Princeton: Princeton University Press, and Samuel Fleischacker (eds.)
(2008) Heidegger’s Jewish Followers: Essays Hannah Arendt, Leo Strauss, Hans Jonas, and
Emmanuel Levinas. Pittsburgh: Duquesne University Press.
5 No less than two translations have already appeared into English: the first one, in 1999, with
the subtitle (From Enowning), the second one in 2012, with the subtitle (Of the Event). In the
following, I will quote from the former translation, without thereby expressing a preference
for it.
6 Cf. Charles E. Scott, Susan M. Schoenbohm, Daniela Vallega-Neu & Alejandro Vallega (eds.)
(2001) Companion to Heidegger’s Contributions to Philosophy. Indianapolis: Indiana University
Press; Daniela Vallega-Neu (2003) Heidegger’s Contributions to Philosophy: An Introduction.
Indianapolis: Indiana University Press; Richard Polt (2006) The Emergency of Being: On
Heidegger’s Contributions to Philosophy. Ithaca: Cornell University Press; and Parvis Emad
(2007) On the Way to Heidegger’s Contributions to Philosophy. Madison: The University of
Wisconsin Press.
