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 | | What is a Human Being?: A Heideggerian View (Modern European Philosophy) by Frederick A. Olafson ISBN-10: 9780521473958 ISBN-10: 0-521-47395-0 ISBN-13: 9780521473958 ISBN-13: 978-0-521-47395-8 Hardcover 1995-07-28 Cambridge University Press Find Lowest Price |
Editorials | ||
Product Description This broad, ambitious study is about human nature--treated in a way quite different from the scientific account that influences so much of contemporary philosophy. Drawing on certain basic ideas of Heidegger, the author presents an alternative to the debate waged between dualists and materialists in the philosophy of mind that involves reconceiving the way we usually think about "mental" life. Olafson argues that familiar contrasts between the "physical" and the "psychological" break down under closer scrutiny. They need to be replaced by a conception of human being in which we are not entities compounded out of body and mind, but unitary entities that are distinguished by "having a world," which is very different from simply being a part of the world. | ||
Book Description Drawing on certain basic ideas of Heidegger, this text presents an alternative to the debate waged between dualists and materialists in the philosophy of mind. It involves changing the way we usually think about "mental" life and breaking down familiar contrasts between the "physical" and the "psychological." | ||
Reviews | ||
Well Done A good summary of Heidegger's (mostly the "early" Heidegger's) conception of human being-in-the-world that will be of special interest to students of existential phenomenology and of philosophical anthropology in general [and it should be required reading for all non-continental social scientists]. Those unfamiliar with Heidegger's philosophy may have difficulty with some of the terminology, so be patient. A careful reading of this text is well worth the time and effort. Indeed, for those new to Heidegger, it could be life-changing. | ||
unorthodox, important, difficult re philosophy of mind A valuable and complex critique of basic assumptions that tacitly underlie standard psychological frameworks--the inside/outside distinction, "mind" as "containing" representations, etc. The critique is also extended to orthodox views of language and to widely accepted physicalist views on the mind-body problem. Less successful is his constructive proposal for alternative approaches. The critique, however, is invaluable on its own and will repay careful repeated reading and study. It is not an easy read, certainly not the first or second time through, but well worth an extended effort. I have lived with this book for some years now and continue to profit from revisiting it. | ||