On Sun, 7 May 2006 12:31:30 -0700 (PDT) andie nachgeborenen
<andie_nachgeborenen at yahoo.com> writes:
> Actually Heidegger's post Being & Time writing is
> _really_ beautiful German. The translations do not do
> him justice, nowhere near.
Back in their day, both Rudolf Carnap and A.J. Ayer were famously dismissive of Heidegger. In fact, Carnap cited several passages from Heidegger' *Being and Time*, in his essay, "The Elimination of Metaphysics Through Logical Analysis of Language," as examples of a metaphysician making pseudostatements. Ayer, if anything, was even more dismissive of Heidegger than was Carnap. He seemed to think that Heidegger's conception of Nothingness rested on linguistic confusions.
Interestingly enough, it has become fashionable among contemporary philosophers to do comparisons between Heidegger and Carnap, and to even point out areas of common ground between them. For some examples see:
Abraham D. Stone, " Heidegger and Carnap on the Overcoming of Metaphysics." http://home.uchicago.edu/~abestone/papers/uberwindung/fixed_uberwindung.h tml
_______, "Heidegger and Carnap on the Overcoming of Metaphysics." http://people.ucsc.edu/~abestone/papers/uberwindung.pdf
Patrick A. Heelan, "Carnap and Heidegger: Parting Ways in the Philosophy of Science." http://www.georgetown.edu/faculty/heelanp/Heid.Carnap.02.htm
>
> And is your contrast supposed to to whom and on what
> grounds? Quine, whose major thesis (the indeterminacy
> of translation) no two people can agree on what it
> means? Davidson, similarly opaque? Rawls, whose
> writing is a crime against the English language?
> Sellars? Give me a break.
>
> Foucault can write perfectly well -- his prose not
> fancy, but clear and serviceable. Zizek has a nice
> breezy accessible journalistic style. Merleau Ponty
> writes like an analytical philosopher, for good or ill
> (says one who was trained in that tradition).
Well, Ayer singled out Merleau Ponty for praise in his book, *Philosophy in the Twentieth Century*, so I guess he would have concurred with your judgment.
I know that Ayer seemed to have had more time for Sartre (although Sartre wasn't willing to reciprocate) than he did for Heidegger. But it was Sartre's novels and plays that Ayer had the most admiration for, rather than for works like *Being and Nothingness*, which probably were too Heideggerian for Ayer's tastes. Ayer did see existentialism as addressing worthwhile problems.
>
> As you know, you can get a PhD in philosophy from a
> top school without ever looking at a word of
> Heidegger. I actually think he's a major philosopher
> though, one of the 20th century greats, well worth the
> effort of headbanging you have have top do to get your
> head around the main points.
>
> --- Jerry Monaco <monacojerry at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > On 5/7/06, Chris Doss <lookoverhere1 at yahoo.com>
> > wrote:
> > >
> > > Hell, without Heidegger there wouldn't even BE a
> > > Zizek. Or a Sartre, Foucault, Derrida,
> > Merleau-Ponty,
> > > Lacan, Arendt, Marcuse, Adorno and probably a
> > couple
> > > of dozen other thinkers I'm in too much of a hurry
> > to
> > > remember right now. What did Arendt call him --
> > the
> > > Hidden King?
> >
> >
> >
> > Does that mean all these people might actually have
> > to learn to write? I'll
> > admit an affection for Sartre in his popular mode
> > and Merleau-Ponty when
> > writing about the senses.... But the world would
> > have been better off
> > without Heidegger. At least trees and graduate
> > classes would have been
> > better off.
> >
> > --- ravi <gadfly at exitleft.org> wrote:
> > >
> > > > At around 7/5/06 8:46 am, Chris Doss wrote:
> > > > > Cuz he's the most influential philosopher
> > since
> > > > Hegel?
> > > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > You mean not Zizek?!! ;-)
> > > >
> > > >
> > >
> > > Nu, zayats, pogodi!
> > >
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> > --
> > Jerry Monaco's Philosophy, Politics, Culture Weblog
> > is
> > Shandean Postscripts to Politics, Philosophy, and
> > Culture
> > http://monacojerry.livejournal.com/
> >
> > His fiction, poetry, weblog is
> > Hopeful Monsters: Fiction, Poetry, Memories
> > http://www.livejournal.com/users/jerrymonaco/
> >
> > Notes, Quotes, Images - From some of my reading and
> > browsing
> > http://www.livejournal.com/community/jerry_quotes/
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