Tag Archives: Heidegger

Aristotle on the Nature of Truth

Christopher P. Long, Aristotle on the Nature of Truth, 1st ed. (Cambridge University Press, 2010).

This book reconsiders the traditional correspondence theory of truth, which takes truth to be a matter of correctly representing objects.

Drawing Heideggerian phenomenology into dialogue with American pragmatic naturalism, I undertake a rigorous reading of Aristotle that articulates the meaning of truth as a cooperative activity between human beings and the natural world that is rooted in our endeavors to do justice to the nature of things.

By following a path of Aristotle’s thinking that leads from our rudimentary encounters with things in perceiving through human communication to thinking, this book traces an itinerary that uncovers the nature of truth as ecological justice, and it finds the nature of justice in our attempts to articulate the truth of things.

Endorsements of the book:

“An original interpretation of Aristotle that subtly weaves together the themes of truth and justice. Christopher Long shows how the question of truth leads us ineluctably to justice and the question of justice leads us back to truth. He combines a rigorous reading of Aristotle’s texts with an imaginative discussion of how American pragmatic naturalism and Heideggerian phenomenology illuminate Aristotle’s attentive response to the world. Through Long’s rich text, we can virtually hear Aristotle’s voice speaking to us in new, relevant, and exciting ways.”
– Richard J. Bernstein, New School for Social Research

“Christopher Long’s new book, Aristotle and the Nature of Truth, is a remarkably fresh and original treatment of one of the most central topics in all of philosophy. Long shows through penetrating and persuasive scholarship that for Aristotle the question of truth is about the nature of things and the things of nature. Thus, this is as much a book about nature and about ecology as it is about truth and being, and it is an indispensable tool for those whose work in environmental philosophy is committed to mining the tradition in order to retrieve a theoretical basis for a new sense of ecological justice. Long philosophizes with a remarkable gracefulness and he has a unique ability to work across methodological traditions to offer a reading of Aristotle that draws resources equally from phenomenology, pragmatism, and analytic philosophy. This book will contribute a great deal to overcoming the polarization that inhibits the usual philosophical approaches to ancient Greek philosophy.”
– Walter A. Brogan,Villanova University

“This is a boldly conceived, painstakingly researched, and exquisitely executed work. The author’s intensely focused attention on the relevant texts is matched by a hermeneutic sensibility animated by imagination, probity, and a steadying awareness of Aristotle’s principal preoccupations and commitments. Christopher Long exemplifies what he takes to be at the heart of Aristotle’s understanding of truth – responsibility in the sense of responsiveness (including reflexive responsiveness). His reading of Aristotle as an integral part of philosophical naturalism, taken to be a living philosophical tradition, is just one of the notable and valuable aspects of this unique contribution to contemporary philosophy, not just contemporary scholarship. At every turn, Professor Long shows in detail the relevance of Aristotle’s writings – indeed, the force of his arguments and the depth of his insights.”
– Vincent Colapietro, Pennsylvania State University

“This is a deeply insightful, genuinely important book that says things far beyond what its title might suggest. It is at once a learned and original study of Aristotle and his contemporary importance; a brilliant and productive dialogue with naturalism, pragmatism, and existential phenomenology; and a profound and moving meditation on truth, nature, and justice.  Aristotle and the Nature of Truth is philosophy at its best.”
– John J. Stuhr, Emory University

Gonzalez and Deslauries to Speak at APS@SPEP

We at the Ancient Philosophy Society are very excited to have two excellent speakers joining us the annual SPEP meeting being held this year in Montreal.

Francisco Gonzalez of the University of Ottawa will be presenting “What’s in a Moment? Time for Aristotle (and Heidegger)” and Marguerite Deslauriers of McGill University will be speaking on “Sexual Difference and Divine Being in Plato’s Statesman and Symposium.”

Please join us on Thursday morning, 9am to noon, November 4th, 2010 in Maisonneve D at the Marriott Château Champlain Hotel.

Also, don’t forget, the deadline for the Call for Papers for the 2011 APS Conference at Sundance in April is November 15, 2010.

Heidegger’s Being and Truth

Indiana University Press is pleased to announce the recent publication of:

BEING AND TRUTH
Martin Heidegger
Translated by Gregory Fried and Richard Polt

“Fried and Polt’s translation of Martin Heidegger’s Being and Truth is a well-crafted and careful rendering of an important and demanding volume of the Complete Works.” —Andrew Mitchell, Emory University

In these lectures, delivered in 1933–1934 while he was Rector of the University of Freiburg and an active supporter of the National Socialist regime, Martin Heidegger addresses the history of metaphysics and the notion of truth from Heraclitus to Hegel. First published in German in 2001, these two lecture courses offer a sustained encounter with Heidegger’s thinking during a period when he attempted to give expression to his highest ambitions for a philosophy engaged with politics and the world. While the lectures are strongly nationalistic and celebrate the revolutionary spirit of the time, they also attack theories of racial supremacy in an attempt to stake out a distinctively Heideggerian understanding of what it means to be a people. This careful translation offers valuable insight into Heidegger’s views on language, truth, animality, and life, as well as his political thought and activity.

Studies in Continental Thought
256 pp., 5 b&w illus. cloth 978-0-253-35511-9 $39.95

For more information, visit:
http://www.iupress.indiana.edu/catalog/product_info.php?isbn=978-0-253-35511-9

Digital Dialogue 34: Heidegger on Aristotle


Digital Dialogue 34
Originally uploaded by Christopher Long

Rob Metcalf, Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Colorado at Denver and graduate of the Pennsylvania State University’s Department of Philosophy, joins Christopher Long for episode 34 of the Digital Dialogue.

Rob’s work focuses on ancient philosophy, phenomenology, ethics, philosophy of religion and the history of philosophy.

We recorded this episode at Michigan State where we were attending the annual meeting of the Ancient Philosophy Society. Our discussion focused on his and Mark Tanzer’s recent translation of Heidegger’s 1924 lecture course entitled Basic Concepts of Aristotelian Philosophy.

Digital Dialogue 34: Metcalf on Heidegger’s reading of Aristotle

To subscribe to the Digital Dialogue through iTunesU, click here.

Basic Concepts of Aristotelian Philosophy

Indiana University Press has just released a translation of Heidegger’s Basic Concepts of Aristotelian Philosophy, translated by Robert Metcalf and Mark Tanzer.

“With a deep sensitivity to the nuances of Heidegger’s German, this translation retains a liveliness and readability that captures something of the urgency and creativity of Heidegger’s original presentation.”
—Christopher P. Long, Pennsylvania State University

Volume 18 of Martin Heidegger’s collected works presents his important 1924 Marburg lectures which anticipate much of the revolutionary thinking that he subsequently articulated in Being and Time. Available in English for the first time, they make a significant contribution to ancient philosophy, Aristotle studies, Continental philosophy, and phenomenology.

To learn more about the book, see:
http://www.iupress.indiana.edu/catalog/product_info.php?isbn=978-0-253-35349-8

Phenomenological Interpretations of Aristotle

Indiana University Press has just released a paperback copy of Heidegger’s Phenomenological Interpretations of Aristotle: Initiation into Phenomenological Research, translated by Richard Rojcewicz.

“This book is an indispensable resource for the study of Heidegger’s thought because it provides a very early articulation of concepts that are central to Heidegger’s philosophy, such as care, facticity, nothingness, and temporality.” —Robert Metcalf, University of Colorado, Denver

Phenomenological Interpretations of Aristotle is the text of a lecture course presented at the University of Freiburg in the winter of 1921–1922. In this course, Heidegger first takes up the role of the definition of philosophy and then elaborates a unique analysis of “factical life,” or human life as it is lived concretely in relation to the world, a relation he calls “caring.” As he works out a phenomenology of factical life, Heidegger lays the groundwork for a phenomenological interpretation of Aristotle, whose influence on Heidegger’s philosophy was pivotal.

To learn more about the book, see:
The Indiana University Press