Rethinking Death in and after Heidegger

A powerful and illuminating re-examination of Heidegger's understanding of existential death and its enduring importance for philosophy and life, this book explains the pivotal role which death plays in Being and Time, in the development of Heidegger's mature thinking, in the post-Heideggerian continental tradition, and beyond.

Iain D. Thomson is renowned for radically rethinking Heidegger''s views on metaphysics, technology, education, art, and history, and in this book, he presents a compelling rereading of Heidegger''s important and influential understanding of existential death. Thomson lucidly explains how Heidegger''s phenomenology of existential death led directly to the insights which forced him to abandon Being and Time''s guiding pursuit of a fundamental ontology, and thus how his early, pro-metaphysical work gave way to his later efforts to do justice to being in its real phenomenological richness and complexity. He also examines and clarifies the often abstruse responses to Heidegger''s rethinking of death in Levinas, Derrida, Agamben, Beauvoir, and others, explaining the enduring significance of this work for ongoing efforts to think clearly about death, mortality, education, and politics. The result is a powerful and illuminating study of Heidegger''s understanding of existential death and its enduring importance for philosophy and life.