Jerry, who seems an otherwise decent sort and amiable chap, wrote this:
> I hear a lot of contempt for the thinking of fundamentalist
> Christian's from most of my fellow intellectuals, but nothing can
> match the wilful stupidity of those who actually think that Heidegger
> has anything at all to contribute to intellectual culture.
He already knew that I am one of those who thinks that Heidegger has something (Hell, I will go ahead and say he is among the top 10, to me, from the 20th century to have something) to contribute. I think Justin had written about his respect for Heidegger too, before Jerry posted the above. In essence, Jerry is accusing me (and Justin and Chris) of wilful stupidity.
I have since realized that Jerry (based on other messages, including off-list ones) is writing passionately rather than spitefully. And clearly he is an intelligent and well-read person too. As are Chris and Justin. This whole discussion could have been, therefore, so much more informative! Which is unfortunate!
It's been about 10 years since I last read Heidegger -- I wish I had the time to go back and reread the stuff that I found so beautifully explanatory ("Sorge" for instance), driving away in mere days the fog of confusion and strandedness/alienation created over years of training in analytical fields and their false dualisms and reductionisms.
Its funny Jerry mentioned David Attenborough: when we first got together, my [soon to be] wife and I traded books: I gave her my copy of Steiner's Heidegger and she introduced me to a set of biological/nature books, in particular David Attenborough's works of care, detail and beauty. We both were the better for the exchange (in our own words) and I remember her comment about how Heidegger describes exactly what is "authentic" (in the world, if you will) and hence what impressed her about Attenborough.
The rest of you, I leave with the Heidegger thong:
http://images.cafepress.com/product/37635080_240x240_F.jpg
--ravi
-- Support something better than yourself: ;-) PeTA: http://www.peta.org/ GreenPeace: http://www.greenpeace.org/
