philosophical conversations

beyond existentialism

Trevor,
in this post your write:

"The existentialists don’t subscribe to the idealist thesis of the universality of reason. Nonetheless, both existentialist versions [French and German] are about the mastery of the will, whereas for surrealism freedom lies in the relinquishment of the will."

What I have been trying to argue in earlier posts is that Heidegger turns away from the mastery of the will over the world of objects. That is the significance of his conviction that Western metaphysical thinking must somehow make a new beginning, his turn that steps along the pathway to ecology based on a letting be.

This turn is what lies behind Heidegger's critical reading of Nietzsche in which he argues that Nietzsche's concept of superman to be the culmination of metaphysics.

Posted by Gary Sauer-Thompson at June 21, 2004 10:53 PM | TrackBack