Heidegger And Aristotle: The Twofoldness of Being (Suny Series in Contemporary Continental Philosophy) [Paperback]

Walter A. Brogan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 2006 | Series: SUNY Series in Contemporary Continental Philosophy

Interprets Heidegger’s phenomenological reading of Aristotle’s philosophy.

--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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From the Publisher

Walter A. Brogan’s long-awaited book exploring Heidegger’s phenomenological reading of Aristotle’s philosophy places particular emphasis on the Physics, Metaphysics, Ethics, and Rhetoric. Controversial and challenging, Heidegger and Aristotle claims that it is Heidegger’s sustained thematic focus and insight that governs his overall reading of Aristotle, namely, that Aristotle, while attempting to remain faithful to the Parmenidean dictum regarding the oneness and unity of being, nevertheless thinks of being as twofold. Brogan offers a careful and detailed analysis of several of the most important of Heidegger’s treatises on Aristotle, including his assertion that Aristotle’s twofoldness of being has been ignored or misread in the traditional substance-oriented readings of Aristotle. This groundbreaking study contributes immensely to the scholarship of a growing community of ancient Greek scholars engaged in phenomenological approaches to the reading and understanding of Aristotle. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

About the Author

Walter A. Brogan is Professor of Philosophy at Villanova University. He is the coeditor (with James Risser) of American Continental Philosophy: A Reader and the cotranslator (with Peter Warnek) of Martin Heidegger’s Aristotle’s Metaphysics (theta) 1–3: On the Essence and Actuality of Force. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 228 pages
• Publisher: State University of New York Press (June 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 079146492X
• ISBN-13: 978-0791464922
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,379,440 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Manifoldness of Being in Aristotle, February 5, 2011

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C Hill (CA, USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Heidegger And Aristotle: The Twofoldness of Being (Suny Series in Contemporary Continental Philosophy) (Paperback)

Walter Brogan's Heidegger and Aristotle is a serious and sober explication of Heidegger's readings of Aristotle on Being. It's Aristotle who is at the center here but through the lens of Heidegger. The Twofoldness of Being is really a multitude of twofoldnessess. Being - non-Being, Being - beings, physis - techne, hyle - morphe, kinesis - steresis, dynamis - energeia, the truth of Being - the truth of assertion, beings that have their own being - beings that depend on another being for their being, ontological kinesis - ontic kinesis; these are just some of the concepts that Brogan covers in detail. He also does a good job of rescueing of Plato in the face of Heidegger's attacks in Being and Time, even though I'm not sure I agree with the argument that Plato came to see sophists in a better light in his later works.

Like all other works on Heidegger and ... (Plato, the Pre-Socratics) this work is not meant to constitute a Heideggerian confrontation between these two giants of philosophy, rather it's meant to set the ground work for one such future study. It's not the result of a hyperactive researcher, as most published philosophy books are these days with hundreds of endnotes, footnotes, and parenthetical remarks; Brogan discusses few thinkers other than Heidegger and Aristotle. It doesn't provide an analysis or evaluation either, nor does the author introduce himself into the arguments like unfortunately most authors do. He says as much in the conclusion- this work is strictly an explication. The book is one place to find what interested Heidegger in Aristotle and how it influenced his thoughts. It's straightforward good traditional scholarship. Perhaps it lacks a center but that is the result of any mature reading of Aristotle as opposed to superficial versions of Aristotle as the systematic consistent thinker. There is no center to this work because Being is said in many ways, not one.

This is a highly recommended text for those who seek a clarification and reference on Heidegger and Aristotle. It's also a great inspiration for future study of the relationship of the two masters.

4.0 out of 5 stars MAKES SENSE BUT YOU WORK TO FIND IT, December 20, 2010

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Gary Moore (Midland, Texas United States) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Heidegger And Aristotle: The Twofoldness of Being (Suny Series in Contemporary Continental Philosophy) (Paperback)

I started reading this to help understand the newly published BASIC CONCEPTS OF ARISTOTELIAN PHILOSOPHY that I have already reviewed. It is relevant, but in the first half is heavily involved with the essay from WEGMARKEN/PATHMARKS "von Wesen und Begriff der PHUSIS: Aristotles' PHYSIC BI. This is printed in a revised translation in the Cambridge paperback by the eminent Thomas Sheehan. Brogan uses his own translations as this is a key text in understanding the real Heidegger. The `many meanings of being' is very evident but with the explicit emphasis on the subtitle THE TWOFOLDNESS OF BEING. If there are many meanings to being, at least the ten categories, then the complexity is doubled if `being' is described as two fold. There is synthesis and diairesis to begin with that causes all sorts of theological difficulties because lack is not `deficiency' but the reverse side of adding-together of synthesis. Putting-together and taking- apart are both LOGICALLY necessary in defining any object. If a jug is broken, it is `deficient' only to my particular purpose of holding beer. In the object itself, the `brokenness' is just what the object is as it is.It certainly does not `communicate' to you its lack of purpose which in fact it does not `have' but just is what it is.*** That is the aspect Brogan emphasizes, but he does so far too abstractly, in language that has the tone of what is expected of `Heideggerian' mysticism, but is in fact not rationally there in Heidegger's or Brogan's text AFTER you figure out the abstracting methodology. They both actually and specifically state in their own ways the unique object must be physically `seen', that is, "presencing itself",[why not 'presents itself'?]*** that is, its existence as an object has an independence from our experiencing it. We do `identify' it with concepts and words that place or `displace' it [if broken] in the continuous linguistic stream of our purpose we call our living. But not only is a broken jug not `evil' because it displaces our particular purpose, but obviously does not need either A purpose or OUR purpose or GOD'S purpose. It is just `there', presencing itself, as it in fact is SEEN. That this is a physical even in time and space should never be sidetracked in abstractions when the simpleminded truth is quite evident and sayable though `academically' awkward. Academia needs a whole lot more `awkwardness' and less abstraction which, literally if you think about it, simply means SUBTRACTED from sensation. But, with this correction in mind, this book is a great help!

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ADDENDUM:I tried to convey 'the case of the facts of the matter', as Wittgenstein would say, above. But there is a rising point in Brogan's text, page 97, that arrives at a pinnacle of `Heidegger mysticism' actually contrary to what both Heidegger and Brogan - I think - intend. `. . . Hearing is not in its being a mere reverberation of the ear.' This is contrary to everything herein said about morphe and hule. Hearing is Only the hearing of a sound, a `reverberation'. A sound `presents' itself whether it is `understood' or not. It has form and matter no matter what. The understanding is ONLY understanding in CONTEXT. For instance, in this `case', we have to be speaking/writing English. If you do not understand someone speaking Spanish, it does not mean a Spanish speaking only being is either insane or an animal. Spanish words do have form and matter even if you do not understand them. This is how I, at least, understand Heidegger's phenomenology of `presencing'. 'Something' is there but you have no hand in forming it. It IS `mere reverberation'. If someone translates it into English, THEN it becomes logos.