Product Description

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #102190 in Books
• Published on: 2002-06-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 150 pages

Review
"Stambaugh's new translation of Identitat und Differenz is a welcome addition to the growing body of English translations of Heidegger. The special merit of Stambaugh's work is that the translator was a student of Heidegger's and was able to prepare this translation in consultation with him. Her work should be particularly well received in view of the very poor quality of the previous translation of the same work, published for some reason under the title Essays in Metaphysics," - Stanley O. Hoerr and Staff, The Review of Metaphysics.

From the Inside Flap

About the Author

Customer Reviews

"Only a god can save us now..."
For the majority of people, it is the second of the two essays in this volume that will compel them to buy Identity and Difference. Both essays, however, are about the nature of metaphysics and given that the very possibility of metaphysics is a hot issue today, readers will likely find themselves benefitting by giving both essays a deep reading. The book also contains the original German of the essays, which makes the book twice as long; if one reads German then one will certainly benefit from this as it gives one the opportunity to study Heidegger's nuanced and technical prose more closely.

"The Onto-Theological Constitution of Metaphysics" has become something of a classic little work in the realm of post-modern religious and theological studies; however un/intentionally, Heidegger managed, with it, to open up the door for a return of the theological right in the middle of all philosophical discourse. Perhaps this is ironic, given that Heidegger was quite insistent that philosophy was fundamentally secular in its orientation. Or, perhaps this is intentional and serves to support the medieval Scholastic contentional the philosophy is the "hand maid" of theology and that reason finds its necessary completion in plenitudinous event of Revelation.

How does one find or speak of the God that is beyond the "causa sui" (ie, self-caused) God of metaphysics? Where is the God that can be prayed to and danced before, worshipped and adored when metaphysics has turned the concept of God into nothing more than that of the unmoved mover? Heidegger does not seek to give a theological explanation here to this question, but simply to note that the problem exists. This does not mean the end of God, however, but necessitates a rethinking of the function and nature of metaphysics: we need to step out of metaphysics so that we might step back into its "active essence".

This is a work that complements Heidegger's Introduction to Metaphysics well. Written in the post-war period, it witnesses to much of the confusion that was prevalent during the time and the urgent feeling that certain long-standing notions could no longer make sense of the late modern experience. Heidegger's seeking a God beyond the idol-god of metaphysics has paved the way for much contemporary thought concerning the relation of philosophy to theology (and its most acute exposition has been given by Jean-Luc Marion in his fine book God Without Being). Identity and Difference is essential reading.

Excellent, but brief
"The problem of identity has been a basic philosophical issue since Parmenides. Parmenides stated it in the form: `thought and being are the same,' with a radicality and a simplicity perhaps never again possible for later thinkers. Heidegger has pondered over Parmenides' statement for years, returning to it again and again in his writings. Thus it came as no surprise to this translator when Heidegger stated that he considered Identity and Difference to be the most important thing he has published since Being and Time."

So says Joan Stambaugh, the translator of this excellent lecture course by Heidegger delivered at the University of Frieburg during 1957. In it he discusses the problems of identity, sameness, and relations of beings in Parmenides, Plato, on to the logic of Hegel. The latter part of the lecture is devoted to further metaphysical questions of the meaning of Being initially taken up in Being and Time, and finally concludes with remarks of onto-theology.

This volume includes the German text which is helpful, however there is really only 74 pages of material here and the volume is $16 so it's not a great bang for your buck, but the edition is as lovely as the content.