"Situating and Interpreting States of Mind, 1700-2000," Northumbria University, June 14-16, 2012.

Keynote Speakers:

Professor Joel P. Eigen (Charles A. Dana Professor of Sociology, Franklin and Marshall College, Pennsylvania)
Professor Melinda A. Rabb (Professor of English, Brown University, Rhode Island)
Dr. Judith A. Tucker (Lecturer in the School of Design, Leeds University)

This cross-period and interdisciplinary conference seeks to situate and interpret states of mind from the eighteenth century to the twenty-first questioning how the space, place and historical context in which mental states are experienced shaped the narratives produced by individuals. Interweaving perspectives from across such disciplines as literature, history, philosophy, art history, creative writing, psychology and sociology, the conference will explore accounts of states of mind including mental illness, dreams, sleep-walking, imaginative states and self-awareness. The conference seeks to assess how these varying states of consciousness are expressed and how such narratives are influenced by historical change, continuity or the reconfiguration of these forms of expression.

We would like to invite abstracts for papers from across disciplines on the theme of the conference, particularly related, but not limited, to the following key strands:

Experience and Representation of Mental Illness
- the gap between individual experience and interpretations by medical and legal practitioners
- the relationship between mental distress, agency, literature and cognition
- representations of mental derangement and criminal responsibility

Liminal States of Mind
- representations of liminal states of consciousness
- the relationship between experiences and representations of dreams and sleepwalking
- categorisation of imaginative states in cognitive science and philosophy
- concepts of interiority, selfhood and imaginative processing of real or fictional worlds

Self-awareness and Place
- relationship between self and place, particularly regarding the past, decay and dilapidation
- artistic expressions of situating self-awareness
- creative representations of landscape as a geographic metaphor

http://www.northumbria.ac.uk/sd/academic/sass/about/humanities/englishhome/englresearch/groups/statesofmind/

"Responsibility, Formal Knowledge and the Life-World," Australasian Phenomenology and Hermeneutics Association, Murdoch University, November 28-29, 2011.

Confirmed Speakers

• Prof. Chan-Fai Cheung The Chinese University of Hong Kong
• Ivan Chvatík, Dr.h.c. Charles University Prague, Czech Republic
• Prof. Jeff Malpas University of Tasmania, Australia
• Prof. Dermot Moran University College Dublin, Ireland
• Prof. Horst Ruthrof Murdoch University, Australia
• Prof. Chung-chi Yu National Sun Yat-Sen University, Taiwan
• Dr Suzi Adams Flinders University, Australia
• Dr Ingo Farin University of Tasmania, Australia
• Dr Paul Healy Swinburne University of Technology, Australia
• Dr Lucy Tatman University of Tasmania, Australia
• Dr Lubica Učník Murdoch University, Australia

http://jrl-workshop.heroku.com/

Cfp: Kogler, Hans-Herbert, et al., eds. "Contemporary Advances in Hermeneutics." COSMOS AND HISTORY forthcoming.

Submissions are invited for a special issue on contemporary advances in hermeneutics. While contributions on the hermeneutics of nature are of particular interest, papers on advances in any area of hermeneutics are welcome. Although the emphasis is on contemporary advances, this could
include the rethinking of established theorists and positions. Papers exploring the relationship between hermeneutics and other philosophical approaches or traditions of thought will also be considered.

Submission deadline: 30 November 2011;
For author guidelines and submission instructions, visit http://cosmosandhistory.org/index.php/journal.

Pub: "Language and Education." HERMENEIA (2011).

Download the essays here: http://hermeneia.ro/.

Schmitter, Amy M. Review of Peter Machamer, et al., eds INTERPRETATION. NDPR (July 2011).

Machamer, Peter, and Gereon Wolters, eds.  Interpretation: Ways of Thinking about the Sciences and the Arts.  Pittsburgh: U of Pittsburgh P, 2010.

This wide-ranging collection of essays emerged from what must have been an enjoyably eclectic 2008 meeting of the Pittsburgh-Konstanz Colloquium in the Philosophy of Science, one charged with the double task of honoring Gereon Wolters and of showing off the many arenas where interpretation has a place. Peter Machamer sets the stage in an opening essay, in which he expresses his hope that the anthology will rectify the loss of interpretation as "a hot topic in contemporary philosophy" (p. 14). Machamer is surely right that interpretation occupies an odd place in contemporary philosophy: despite its cognitive significance, it garners little attention in epistemology. But it does constitute a central area of investigation for some stripes of philosophy of language, for hermeneutics, and for philosophy of art and literary criticism. If Machamer, Wolters and their contributors have their way, it should also figure importantly in various areas of the philosophy of science, philosophy of mind and action, and practical aesthetics.

http://ndpr.nd.edu/review.cfm?id=24271

Cfp: 6th Annual Meeting, North American Society for Philosophical Hermeneutics, Boston College, September 15-17, 2011.

NASPH was formed in 2005 in order to further the study of philosophical hermeneutics. While honoring the rootedness of philosophical hermeneutics in the work of Hans-Georg Gadamer, NASPH also recognizes that the future of such thinking depends on engaging with a diverse range of figures and issues. Our intention is to promote dialogue focusing on both the sources of, and the prospects for, philosophical hermeneutics.

James Risser will give the Keynote Address.  Other invited speakers will include Theodore George, Drew Hyland, Dennis Schmidt, and Charles Scott.

"Hermeneutics and Translation Studies," University of Applied Sciences, Cologne, May 26-27, 2011.

Even though Translation Studies and Hermeneutics share a common interest in the mediating processes, these two disciplines have co-existed and developed since the advent of Translation Studies in the mid 20^th century with strikingly little interaction. The purpose of this symposium is to explore avenues in which Hermeneutics and Translation Studies could complement one another, thereby strengthen research on both oral and written mediation and the mediating processes. The symposium is conceived of as a forum for posing and discussing questions of relevance to these two disciplines. In particular, the purpose of the symposium is to begin developing the contours and goals of and simultaneously setting limits to the scope of an emerging discipline, Translational Hermeneutics, which could be developed by merging these heretofore distinct research strands.

Suggested Topics:

1. A Retrospective: Hermeneutics and the Development of Translation Studies

2. The Future: the New Field of “Translational Hermeneutics”
3. Didactics of Translation and Interpreting from a Hermeneutical Point of View
4. Translation in Practice – Specialized Texts versus Literature
5. Hermeneutics, Culture and Postcolonial Translation Studies
6. Synergies: Hermeneutics and Cognitive Linguistics
7. Hermeneutics, Corpus Studies and Empirical Research – Conflicting Paradigms?

Visit: http://philosophyoftranslation.blogspot.com/2010/11/call-for-papers-hermeneutics-and.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+PhilosophyOfTranslation+%28Philosophy+of+Translation%29&utm_content=FeedBurner.

Cfp: Kögler, Hans-Herbert, and Paul Healy, eds. Special Issue on Contemporary Advances in Hermeneutics. COSMOS AND HISTORY.

Twentieth century hermeneutics, including the work of Heidegger, Gadamer and Ricoeur, effected a revolution regarding the concepts of understanding and interpretation. Instead of being solely focused on a methodology of the human sciences, hermeneutics matured into a fundamental exploration of the grounds of human experience. In accordance with the aims of Cosmos and History, we aim to provide a forum for those challenging basic assumptions about being and being-in-the-world, and about humanity’s relation to the physical and social worlds. We are especially interested in exploring the ontological grounds, and the metaphysical, epistemological and methodological implications of hermeneutics for the domains of both 'nature' and 'human nature'. A new hermeneutics of nature could leave behind traditional Cartesian assumptions and fully unleash the potential of hermeneutic philosophy. Topics might include hermeneutics and metaphysics, the experience of nature and society, and the difference between explanation and understanding, among others. However, well developed contributions to all areas of hermeneutics will be considered.

Deadline for submissions:30th November, 2011.

Visit: http://cosmosandhistory.org/index.php/journal.

Cfp: Fleming, Paul, et al., eds. Special Issue on Hans Blumenberg. TELOS (forthcoming).

The American reception of Hans Blumenberg's work reached a highpoint in the 1980s with Robert M. Wallace's remarkable translation of three monumental volumes: The Legitimacy of the Modern Age, Work on Myth, and The Genesis of the Copernican World. Since then, interest in Blumenberg's work in the United States has remained steady but small. With the forthcoming translations of Paradigms for a Metaphorology (Cornell UP, translated by Robert Savage) and Care Crosses the River (Stanford UP, translated by Paul Fleming), we would like to use this resumed interest in Blumenberg as an opportunity to reconsider his work and the importance of his thought for today. We invite essays on all aspects of Blumenberg's oeuvre, especially topics that have received less attention in the United States, such as metaphorology, anthropology, and non-conceptuality (first developed in the afterword to Shipwreck with Spectator), as well as essays that reconsider, for example, his earlier thought on secularization or modernity in light of recently published posthumous works, such as his correspondence with Carl Schmitt or the volume on Ernst Jünger. Finally, we encourage essays that examine Blumenberg the writer, Blumenberg the stylist, where one takes into account the polemical and playful, the anecdotal and metaphorical aspects of his writing.

We seek submissions of a maximum 6,500 words (7,500 with notes) by June 1, 2011. Articles should conform to Telos style and formatting guidelines. Please direct inquiries and abstracts to Paul Fleming, Department of German, New York University (paul.fleming@nyu.edu).

For further information, visit: http://www.telospress.com/main/index.php?main_page=page&id=127&chapter=0.

Dallmayr, Fred R. "Hermeneutics and Inter-Cultural Dialog: Linking Theory and Practice." ETHICS AND GLOBAL PRACTICE 2.1 (2009).

Abstract:

Inter-cultural dialog is frequently treated as either unnecessary or else impossible. It is said to be unnecessary, because we all are the same or share the same ‘human nature’; it is claimed to be impossible because cultures seen as language games or forms or life are so different as to be radically incommensurable. The paper steers a course between absolute universalism and particularism by following the path of dialog and interrogation—where dialog does not mean empty chatter but the exploration of the ‘otherness’ of interlocutors on the far side of either assimilation or exclusion. Such dialog is the heart of hermeneutics as formulated by Hans-Georg Gadamer. The paper explores the question whether hermeneutical interpretation can be transferred from textual readings to the domain of cross-cultural encounters. After discussing both the historical development and the basic meaning of contemporary hermeneutics, the paper draws attention to the intimate linkage between interpretive understanding and ‘application’, or ‘practical philosophy.’ Drawing on the insights of Gadamer and some more overtly political thinkers, the paper then shows the relevance of hermeneutics for cross-cultural studies, as an antidote to the looming ‘clash of civilizations.’ It turns to some writings by Maurice Merleau-Ponty in order to emphasize the necessary linkage between interactive dialog and concrete embodied engagement. Undercutting purely mentalist or ‘idealist’ misconstruals of dialog, this linkage shows the mutual compatibility between Gadamerian hermeneutics and existential phenomenology.

Read the essay here: http://www.ethicsandglobalpolitics.net/index.php/egp/article/view/1937/2187.

"Wozu Hermeneutik? 50 Years since TRUTH AND METHOD," NASPH, Seattle University, September 16-18, 2010.

Update: Confirmed Speakers: Nicholas Davey, Dennis Schmidt. Original Post (April 30, 2010): 5th Annual Meeting, North American Society for Philosophical Hermeneutics. Submissions for papers are invited on all themes related to philosophical hermeneutics, but we are especially interested in papers related to Hans-Georg Gadamer’s Wahrheit und Methode, Vol. I or II of Gadamer’s Gesammelte Werke, and the question of the future development of his hermeneutics. Inorder to promote a spirit of dialogue and meaningful reflection on each paper, presenters will be asked to make their papers available for posting on our web site to be read in advance. Sessions will consist of 15-20 minutes of reflective summaries of papers, followed by 45-60 minutes of discussion. Since papers will not be read in-session, there is some flexibility regarding length: submissions may be between 3,000 and 6,000 words in length. Complete papers in English, formatted for blind review, must be submitted electronically to nasphermeneutics@gmail.com. Attachments in either *.doc or *.rtf format are preferable. The deadline for full-paper submissions is June 15, 2010. Notifications of acceptance will be sent by July 15, 2010. Visit the conference website here: http://sites.google.com/site/nasphdocs/nasph-2010. For more information about the society and/or to be put on an e-mail list, please visit our blog at http://www.nasph.blogspot.com/ or contact Monica Vilhauer (vilhauer@roanoke.edu) or Jamey Findling (findlingj@newmanu.edu).

Cfp: "Reading Ricoeur Once Again: Hermeneutics and Practical Philosophy," Universidade Nova de Lisboa, July 7–10, 2010.

Update: The conference website is here: http://www.ricoeur2010.com/. Original Post (December 12, 2009): With the Official Support of the Fonds Ricoeur, the International Institute for Hermeneutics and the Society for Ricoeur Studies. Confirmed Keynote Speakers: Axel Honneth (Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität, Frankfurt am Main), Andrzej Wiercinski (Albert-Ludwigs-Universität, Freiburg) Carlos João Correia (Universidade de Lisboa), Daniel Frey (Université Marc Bloch, Strasbourg), David Pellauer (DePaul University, Chicago), Fernanda Henriques (Universidade de Évora), George Taylor (University of Pittsburgh), Gilbert Vincent (Université Marc Bloch, Strasbourg), Jerôme Porée (Université de Rennes), Johann Michel (Université de Poitiers, EHESS), Maria Luísa Portocarrero (Universidade de Coimbra), Michel Renaud (Universidade Nova de Lisboa), Richard Kearney (Boston College) This four-day international symposium will aim to pay homage to the influential French philosopher Paul Ricoeur, on the fifth anniversary of his death. Ricoeur’s vast and prolific philosophical career left us with an immense corpus whose hermeneutical appropriation and reinterpretation might still contribute to expand several philosophical areas, if complemented by new theoretical insights. We intend to analyze and further develop what we could call Ricoeur’s Practical Philosophy, that is, his reflections on Ethics, Political Philosophy and Social Philosophy. We welcome papers assessing the contributions of Ricoeurian philosophy in any one of these areas, but also contributions coming from moral, political and social philosophers who are not specialists in Ricoeur, as long as their insights help us explore and rethink the creative possibilities of human action. Papers dealing with the role of recognition theory in philosophy will be especially welcome as well as, of course, presentations dealing with the areas of hermeneutics indicated below. The topics of the papers might include, but need not be restricted to: Applied Ethics Critical Theory Ethics and Politics Feminist Theory Hermeneutics and Law Hermeneutics and Literature Hermeneutics, Memory and History Hermeneutics and Philosophy of Religion Hermeneutics of the Self Recognition Theory Theology Abstracts (approximately 300 words, either in English or French) should be sent to Gonçalo Marcelo, Maria João Coelho and Sara Fernandes (ricoeur2010@gmail.com). The deadline for submissions is February 15, 2010. Submissions should include a separate sheet with the title of the paper, author’s name, contact, institutional affiliation, main research interests and works published. Notification of acceptance will be given by April 1. Final papers will have to be suitable for a 30 minutes presentation.

"Hermeneutics and Science: Worlds, Realities & Life," International Society for Hermeneutics and Science, Sigmund Freud University, August 27-29, 2010

The birth of hermeneutic (or hermeneutic phenomenological) philosophy of science was a result of the so-called "hermeneutic turn" of philosophy of science in the 60's. Arriving at different consequences of the critique of the traditional positivist philosophy of science almost the same transformation is called as social or sociological turn. In these years Apel, Hanson, Heelan, Ihde, Kisiel, Kockelmans, Markus, Follesdal, and others started to apply Heidegger's and Gadamer's views to depict the science and technology from a non-positivist position. As a consequence of these attempts for the 80's - 90's a relatively well-identifiable trend was emerged in philosophy of science: the hermeneutics of science, or hermeneutic philosophy of science and technology. Heidegger's and Gadamer's philosophical hermeneutics provides an opportunity for developing a hermeneutic alternative to the analytic philosophy of science. This intellectual adventure has significant outcomes.Hermeneutics of science scrutinized the life world of scientists, the process of discovery, the structure of perception, scientists' relatedness to the world, experimentation, scientific and technological tools, scientific debates, the reconstruction of scientific texts, and many others topics. It shed new light e.g. on the issues about the philosophical foundations of Psychoanalysis. Heideggerian hermeneutics is also the basis of well known results in the Dasein analysis targeted the openness included in human Dasein, and aims to widen it via the analysis and develop self understanding and identity. Taking the problems of hermeneutic philosophy of science into a broader philosophical context some fundamental epistemological problems can be identified. These dilemmas yield to the identification of the unnecessary domination of the so-called scientism in culture and provide a possibility to its critique. It would be interesting to disclose the appearance the different forms of these problems in the practice of social and natural sciences, humanities, psychology, informatics and other forms of technology. This would be also an opportunity to confront philosophical ideas with everyday scientific and technological practice.

The aim of this conference is to provide an open and inspiring atmosphere to discuss all of these and related issues. Possible topics for discussion includes: •Reflections of scientists on their own praxis •Creativity, innovation and re-interpretation •Interpretation in History of Philosophy of Science •Science as human enterprise/praxis •Information and meaning: the question of interpretation •Open world hermeneutics: go beyond the "two cultures" •Life-world, systems and institutions •Institutions, organisations and relationships •What does it mean to live a fulfilled life? •How to cope with uncertainty? Challenges of uncertainty in everyday life and science. •Philosophical background of Dasein analysis •Life technologies and human survival: human-environment relations. •Varieties of relatedness to the world •Tools, toolmaking and technologies •Embodiment and thinking •Scientific knowledge and experties

Visit the conference website here: http://ishs.hu/call-for-papers.

Cfp: "Who is Calling? Responsible Hermeneutics – Hermeneutics of Responsibility," Aarhus University, June 3-4, 2009.

Update: Senior Speakers include: Richard A. Cohen, Buffalo Georg Bertram, Berlin Santiago Zabala, Baltimore Søren gosvig Olesen, Copenhagen Adam Graves, Denver Jay Mootz III, Las Vegas Aïcha Liviana Messina, Santiago Ejvind Hansen, Aarhus Original Post (December 9, 2009): Hosted by the Research Group in Philosophical Hermeneutics, Institute of Philosophy and History of Ideas. Philosophical hermeneutics, in the broadest sense of the term, has grown to signify a current within contemporary thinking loosely united by the insistence on the historical and linguistic nature of human existence and experience. As such, the primary object or concern of any philosophical-hermeneutical thinking seems to be the understanding and interpretative relations between man, language, and history – a concern that provides common ground for dialogue between a wide variety of thinkers, ranging at least from Nietzsche and Dilthey, through Heidegger, Gadamer, and Ricoeur to Derrida and Vattimo. In dealing with understanding and interpretative relations, philosophical hermeneutics runs the risk of assigning unrestricted privilege to the relation itself at the expense of its individual terms. Since the advent of structural semantics, linguistics, and historiography, this risk has become even more apparent. One of the questions emerging in this regard concerns the status and role of the concept of responsibility within philosophical hermeneutics. This problematic contains at least two dimensions. Firstly, in what sense can hermeneutical subjectivity be disclosed as being-responsible? Whether one turns to Nietzsche’s “second innocence”, Heidegger’s concept of conscience, Lévinasian substitution, or Gadamer’s and Ricoeur’s separate re-interpretations of Aristotelian phronesis, this question seems to be central to any examination of hermeneutical subjectivity – a question becoming just the more pressing by the advent of structuralism, the alleged “death” of the subject, and the unclear status and role of philosophical anthropology within hermeneutics. Secondly, in what sense can hermeneutics itself be posited as a responsible way of thinking? This question pertains to the status of hermeneutical thinking within the more general field and tradition of philosophy. Can hermeneutics be construed as the responsible philosophy par excellence? Here, one might focus on Heidegger’s concept of Andenken, an ethically inspired or animated concept of deconstruction, or Vattimo’s articulation of hermeneutics as a response to a certain “nihilistic vocation”. At any rate,the question of responsibility here turns back upon itself, questions itself as a responsible way of thinking the question as such. In this regard, the question also becomes the more general question of the relation between philosophy and its “other”. Aims and Topics: The aim of the conference is to explore the status or role responsibility within philosophical hermeneutics. Participants may do this by discussing this concept within a philosophical-hermeneutical framework, focusing on the problem of responsible subjectivity, on the problem of responsible thinking, or on the relation between the two. Questions that can be addressed include,but are not limited to: • What is the relation between responsiveness and responsibility? • Are we compelled to defend a strong notion of subjectivity if we want to keep on considering ourselves as responsible persons? • In what sense is responsibility connected to the concept of freedom, and what does a hermeneutical concept of freedom entail? • Is there such a thing as a hermeneutical ethics? • Is responsibility necessarily connected to our behavior towards other persons? In what sense can one be responsible for institutions, traditions or languages? • What is the contribution of, say, Heidegger, Gadamer, Ricoeur, Vattimo, Levinas or Derrida to our understanding of responsibility? For further information please contact Jon Utoft Nielsen (filjun@hum.au.dk).

Gianni Vattimo, "The End of Reality," Gifford Lectures, June 7-10, 2010.

Time: 18:00 Venue: Western Infirmary Lecture Theatre (WILT), University of Glasgow Mon 7 June "Tarski and the Quotation Marks of his Principle" Alfred Tarski argued that truth is indefinable. Yet truth in language, the kind of truth that perplexed Tarski, may be grounded in a more basic notion of truth explored by European thinkers. Vattimo explores the question of the relationship between human existence, language and truth. Tues 8 June "Beyond Phenomenology" Wed 9 June "Being and Event" Thurs 10 June "The Ethical Dissolution of Reality" For further information contact Angela Hair, Development and Alumni Office, Email: A.Hair@admin.gla.ac.uk, Tel: 0141 330 3593

Cfp: "Philosophical Hermeneutics and Religion," NASPH, Newman University, September 25-26, 2009.

Update 2: Papers have now been posted here: http://sites.google.com/site/nasphdocs/nasph-2009/conference-papers-1. Update 1 (July 24, 2009): Further information (inc. the programme) has been posted here: http://sites.google.com/site/nasphdocs/nasph-2009. Original Post (January 5, 2009): 4th Annual Conference of the North American Society for Philosophical Hermeneutics. Merold Westphal (Fordham University) will present the keynote address. Submissions for papers are invited on all themes related to philosophical hermeneutics, but we are especially interested in papers related to the theme of Philosophical Hermeneutics and Religion. In order to promote a spirit of dialogue and meaningful reflection on each paper, presenters will be asked to make their papers available for posting on our web site to be read in advance. Sessions will consist of 15-20 minutes of reflective summaries of papers, followed by 45-60 minutes of discussion. Since papers will not be read in-session, there is some flexibility regarding length: submissions may be between 3,000 and 6,000 words in length. Complete papers, formatted for blind review, must be submitted electronically to nasphermeneutics@gmail.com. Attachments in either *.doc or *.rtf format are preferable. The deadline for full-paper submissions is June 1, 2009. Notifications of acceptance will be sent by July 15, 2009. For more information about the society and/or to be put on an e-mail list, please visit our blog at the URL below or contact Monica Vilhauer (vilhauer@roanoke.edu) or Jamey Findling (findlingj@newmanu.edu). Further information will be posted here: http://nasph.tamu.edu/.

Critchley, Simon. "Heidegger's BEING AND TIME, Part 8: Temporality." GUARDIAN July 27, 2009.

Although there is no much more we could say about division two of Being and Time, there is one final topic that I'd briefly like to explore and which some readers think is the climax of the book: temporality. Let me begin by describing what Heidegger is trying to avoid in his discussion of time. Firstly, he is trying to criticise the idea of time as a uniform, linear and infinite series of "now-points". On this model, which derives ultimately from Aristotle's Physics, the future is the not-yet-now, the past is the no-longer-now, and the present is the now that flows from future to past at each passing moment. This is what Heidegger calls the "vulgar" or ordinary conception of time where priority is always given to the present. Heidegger thinks that this Aristotelian conception of time has dominated philosophical inquiries into time from the ancient Greeks to Hegel and even up to his near contemporary Bergson. Secondly, he is trying to avoid any conception of time that begins with a distinction between time and eternity. On this understanding of time, classically expressed in Augustine's Confessions, temporality is derived from a higher non-temporal state of eternity, which is co-extensive with the infinite and eternal now of God. In order to understand what Heidegger means by temporality, we have to set it in the context of the existential analytic of Dasein that I have sought to describe. . . . Read the rest here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2009/jul/27/heidegger-being-time-philosophy.

Critchley, Simon. "BEING AND TIME, Part 7: Conscience." GUARDIAN July 20, 2009.

After the existential drama of Heidegger's notion of being-towards-death, why do we need a discussion of conscience? As so often in Being and Time, Heidegger insists that although his description of being-towards-death is formally or ontologically correct, it needs more compelling content at what Heidegger calls the "ontic" level, that is, at the level of experience. Finitude gets a grip on the self through the experience of conscience. For me, the discussion of conscience contains the most exciting and challenging pages in Being and Time. Let me try and sketch as simply as possible the complex line of Heidegger's argument. . . . Read the rest here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2009/jul/20/heidegger-being-time-critchley.

Critchley, Simon. "BEING AND TIME, Part 6: Death." GUARDIAN July 13, 2009.

The basic idea in Being and Time is very simple: being is time and time is finite. For human beings, time comes to an end with our death. Therefore, if we want to understand what it means to be an authentic human being, then it is essential that we constantly project our lives onto the horizon of our death. This is what Heidegger famously calls "being-towards-death". If our being is finite, then an authentic human life can only be found by confronting finitude and trying to make a meaning out of the fact of our death. Heidegger subscribes to the ancient maxim that "to philosophise is to learn how to die". Mortality is that in relation to which we shape and fashion our selfhood. . . . Read the rest here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2009/jul/13/heidegger-being-time.

Critchley, Simon. "BEING AND TIME, Part 5: Anxiety." GUARDIAN July 6, 2009.

As I showed in the last blog, moods are essential ways of disclosing human existence for Heidegger. Yet, there is one mood in particular that reveals the self in stark profile for the first time. This is the function of anxiety (Angst), which Heidegger calls a basic or fundamental mood (Grundstimmung). Safranski rightly calls anxiety "a shadowy queen amongst moods". Anxiety makes its appearance in Division 1, Chapter 6, where Heidegger is seeking to define the being of Dasein as what he calls "care" (Sorge). It would take many more blog entries than I have at my disposal to lay out in adequate detail the structure and meaning of care. But we can get more than a hint by looking at anxiety. . . . Read the rest here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2009/jul/06/heidegger-philosophy-being.