Nietzsche, Heidegger, and the Transition to Postmodeity

by: Gregory Bruce Smith (Author)

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Edition: 1st

Publication Date: 1996/2/15

Language: English

Print Length: 376 pages

ISBN-10: 0226763404

ISBN-13: 9780226763408

Book Description

Among the most influential and enigmatic thinkers of the mode age, Nietzsche and Heidegger have become pivotal in the struggle to define postmodeism. In this work, Gregory Smith offers the most comprehensive examination to date of the tu to postmodeity in the writings of these philosophers.Smith argues that, while much of postmode thought is rooted in Nietzsche and Heidegger, it has ironically attempted, whether unwittingly or by design, to deflect their philosophy back onto a mode path. Other alteative paths emanating from both Nietzschean and Heideggerian thought that might more powerfully speak to postmode culture have been ignored. Nietzsche and Heidegger, Smith suggests, have made possible a far more revolutionary critique of modeity then even their most ardent postmode admirers have realized.Smith contends that the influences on the postmode in the thought of Nietzsche and Heidegger are founded in a new vision of praxis liberated from theory. Ultimately, these philosophers do transcend the nihilism often found in the guise of postmodeism. Their thought is, moreover, consistent with the possibility of limited constitutional govement and the rule of law. Smith's book takes the first step toward recovering these possibilities and posing the fundamental questions of politics and ethics in ways that have heretofore been closed off by late-mode thought.

About the Author

Among the most influential and enigmatic thinkers of the mode age, Nietzsche and Heidegger have become pivotal in the struggle to define postmodeism. In this work, Gregory Smith offers the most comprehensive examination to date of the tu to postmodeity in the writings of these philosophers.Smith argues that, while much of postmode thought is rooted in Nietzsche and Heidegger, it has ironically attempted, whether unwittingly or by design, to deflect their philosophy back onto a mode path. Other alteative paths emanating from both Nietzschean and Heideggerian thought that might more powerfully speak to postmode culture have been ignored. Nietzsche and Heidegger, Smith suggests, have made possible a far more revolutionary critique of modeity then even their most ardent postmode admirers have realized.Smith contends that the influences on the postmode in the thought of Nietzsche and Heidegger are founded in a new vision of praxis liberated from theory. Ultimately, these philosophers do transcend the nihilism often found in the guise of postmodeism. Their thought is, moreover, consistent with the possibility of limited constitutional govement and the rule of law. Smith's book takes the first step toward recovering these possibilities and posing the fundamental questions of politics and ethics in ways that have heretofore been closed off by late-mode thought.