Heidegger's Hidden Sources: East-Asian Influences on his Work

by Reinhard May, Graham Parkes (Translator)

Heidegger's Hidden Sources documents for the first time Heidegger's remarkable debt to East Asian philosophy. In this groundbreaking study, Reinhard May shows conclusively that Martin Heidegger borrowed some of the major ideas of his philosophy - on occasion almost word for word - from German translations of Chinese Daoist and Zen Buddhist classics. The discovery of this astonishing appropriation of non-Western sources will have important consequences for future interpretations of Heidegger's work. Moreover, it shows Heidegger as a pioneer of comparative philosophy and transcultural thinking.

Genres: Philosophy

144 pages, Paperback

First published July 11, 1996

Reviews

[تیهو · Rating 4 out of 5]

از معدود کتاب‌های فلسفی‌ای که زمین نمی‌گذاری و یک‌باره می‌خوانی. راینهارد مای که حقوقدان هم هست در این اثر تحقیقی خود که ادعا می‌کند شروع کنندهٔ جریان جدیدی در هایدگرپژوهی‌‍ست با کنار هم قرار دادن نوشته‌ها و مصاحبه‌ها و گفته‌های هایدگر و شاگردان و هم‌مجلسانش تأثیر آموزه‌های چینی و ژاپنی، علی‌الخصوص دائو ده جینگ، را در اندیشه‌ی هایدگر بررسی می‌کند. کتاب از زبان آلمانی ترجمه شده و با ترجمهٔ انگلیسی اثر تطبیق داده شده است. اگر کمی اهل فلسفه و هایدگرپژوهی باشید کتابی خواندنی را در مقابل دارید. کتابی که نشان می‌دهد هایدگر وام‌دار اندیشه‌های آسیای شرقی است؛ نه غرب.

«زبان انسان تنها هنگامی در جایگاه خود است که به واژه درآید. و وقتی در جایگاه خود قرار گیرد، بر امکان دسترسی به منابعی پنهان اشاره دارد.»

مارتین هایدگر (GA 13:33)

[Harm · Rating 4 out of 5]

Seems that goood ol' Heidegger was a bit embarrassed to admit that some of his most important ideas were not of German or Greek origin, and thus simply refused to give credit where credit is, as this book argues, due. The argument has interesting implications for the history of western philosophy, which perhaps isn't so exclusively western after all.

The main part of the book is a bit boring and not very well written. It starts off rather weak but gets slightly better around thirty pages in. The individual arguments or comparisons are not very strong in themselves, but the whole lot of them taken together do add up to quite a solid case. It focuses on some links of influence and parallels in wording between Heidegger and mostly Taoist texts. It has interesting and elaborate footnotes, but the presentation is somewhat messy. Also, there's a bit of a foul tone here and here. Overall a fair thesis, some strong arguments, but sloppy execution.

This main part does, however, provide a base for what is, I believe, the best thing in this book, which is an essay by Graham Parkes, added at the end as a sort of addendum. Where the main part of the book mostly ignored the modern Japanese Buddhists, this essay focuses pretty much exclusively on them. It is also much better written and more carefully argued. If it wasn't for this essay, I would not recommend this book to anyone, other than for the few fair points raised in the first part. This essay, however, makes this whole book well worth a read. Very enlightening. Three stars for the main part of the book, five for the essay.

[Jessica Zu · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a pretty interesting read of Heidegger. Instead of a book, this reads more like May's own notebook. Anyway, it is worth-well to read this book in comparison with Ma Lin's Heidegger on East-West dialogue. Two contrasting views will make the reading more exciting.

[Joseph · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very illuminating, will be of interest to anyone with interest in Asian comparative philosophy.