Nietzsche, Heidegger, and Buber (His Discovering the mind ; v. 2) [Hardcover]

Walter Arnold Kaufmann (Author)

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Walter Kaufman (1921-1980) was professor of philosophy at Princeton University from 1947 until his death. He had visiting appointments at Columbia, Cornell, the University of Michigan, and the University of Washington among others. His books include The Future of the Humanities, Religion from Tolstoy to Camus,and the three volume series entitled Discovering the Mind.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 308 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill (1980)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0070333122
• ISBN-13: 978-0070333123
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,240,195 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good Beginner's Course - Except Read Heigegger Yourself, December 17, 2003

By 

R. Schwartz (United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Nietsche, Heidegger, and Buber: Discovering the Mind (Discovering the Mind, Vol 2) (Paperback)

.
Great analysis on Neitzsche, except you must read Kaufmann's book devoted to him. This is rather a small amount of information, a good introduction.

On Heidegger, you must read him yourself, primarily his Volumes I and II on Nietzsche. Kaufmann critizises Heidegger and much of his points are valid, however it is unfair to make a judgment and assessment call based on this, for after reading Heidegger's Neitzshe, my love for his analysis speaks for itself. What is here is Kaufmann looks at the man who wrote the information, his psychology. In this case Heidegger a pompous verbose fellow who at one time was a Nazi. But don't base your conclusion on this: read his Nietzsche and see if your not mesmurized and further developed in your understanding and love for Nietzsche.

On Buber, it is a good thing to read this outline, as Buber is somewhat verbose in his "I and Thou" and kaufmann is ready to both analyse it and critizise it for both its beneficial and faulty theory, as Kaufmann recognizes that not all human relationships must be subjecttive, but in some cases objective is actually more valuable. Try reading his book of the Hasidim.

Overall, this book is a good read, limited, but a good read.

11 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars eloquence and guts, March 28, 2005

By 

Robert J. Crawford (Balmette Talloires, France) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Nietsche, Heidegger, and Buber: Discovering the Mind (Discovering the Mind, Vol 2) (Paperback)

This is a wonderful exploration by a great philosopher into the antecedents of modern psychology and the unconscious. While I am not someone who is that into philosophy, Kaufmann writes with the most astonishing clarity and lucidity, explaining where they advanced certain notions related to the unconscious as well as how much they really accomplished in the advancement of knowledge. I admit, I will never read most of this stuff in the original text, so I needed someone who would explain it all as Kaufmann did.

Nietzsche comes off the best, as a kind of prototypical explorer of the mind and its unconscious imagery. He is perhaps the only one of these writers whom I would want to study in depth.

Heidegger, on the other hand, is subjected to withering criticism. In my reading, the basis of his analysis is that Heidegger is in fact a rather minor philosopher, who was elevated by the need of post-War Germans to have a great one. In other words, his cult is pure fashion and nationalism. Kaufmann in my view does a great job of demolishing the academic pretensions surrounding Heidegger - what undergraduate hasn't seen a number of his peers carrying around some fat book by Heidegger, implying that beyond other mortals he is up to reading it all and "getting it"? Kaufmann also highlights how truly awful most writing is in philosophy, which is what puts me off of it. Nonetheless, I must admit that I cannot evaluate what Heidegger accomplished and frankly will never take the time to do so.

The bottom line is, Kaufmann shows great courage, even audacity, in his critiques of contemporary philosophers. Recommended warmly as a fascinating read.