RE-READING HEIDEGGER Studia Philosophiae Christianae UKSW 50(2014)1 David PICKUS WHAT DOES WALTER KAUFMann’s HeIDEGGER CRITIQUE HAVE TO OFFER THE 21ST CENTURY? Abstract. Heidegger has many critics, but not all critics are alike. This paper analyses the work of one of the more forceful and provocative of Heidegger’s detractors, Walter Kaufmann (1921–1980). The paper argues that Kaufmann’s criticisms of Heidegger deserve analysis in their own right. To make this case it unpacks Kaufmann’s biographical and scholarly involvement with Heidegger, explaining how Kaufmann (a refugee from Germany) was instrumental in bringing Heidegger to the attention of the American academic public. At the same time, the paper argues that Kaufmann’s intense opposition to Heidegger’s thought comes from his equally strong engagement with issues that preoccupied Heidegger as well. Specifically, Kaufmann’s own search to find a more honest and meaningful way to speaking about existential questions caused him to recoil from what he saw as Heidegger’s efforts to deflect, rather than spark, thought and engagement. The logic of Kaufman’s argument, as well as the implications of his criticisms of Heidegger are explored in the essay. Keywords: Heidegger; Kaufmann, Walter; existentialism; hermeneutics; self- deception I I want to argue for the enduring value of the work of one Heidegger‘s sharpest detractors, Walter Kaufmann (1921–1980), as he was one of the first English-speaking philosophers to criticize Heidegger not be- David Pickus People’s University, Department of History
[email protected] Renwen Building, 59 zhongguanun, Beijing 100872, China 206 DAVID PICKUS [2] cause he deviated from Anglo-American positivistic traditions, but be- cause he did not realize the philosophical goals of the Continental-her- meneutic horizon.