Intimations of Mortality: Time, Truth, and Finitude in Heidegger's Thinking of Being

by David Farrell Krell

Heidegger’s thinking has an underlying unity, this book argues, and has cogency for seemingly diverse domains of modern philosophy and religion, aesthetics and literary criticism, intellectual history and social theory. “The theme of mortality―finite human existence―pervades Heidegger’s thought,” in the author’s words, “before, during, and after his magnum opus, Being and Times , published in 1927.” This theme is manifested in Heidegger’s work not “as funereal melodramatics or as despair and destructive nihilism” but rather “ as a thinking within anxiety .” Four major subthemes in Heidegger’s thinking are explored in the book’s four the fundamental ontology developed in Being and Time ; the “lighting and clearing” of Being, understood as “unconcealment”; the history of philosophy―with emphasis on Heraclitus, Hegel, and Nietzsche―interpreted as the “destiny” of Being; and the poetics of Being, explicated as the “fundamental experience” of mortality. Neither an introduction nor a survey, this book is a close reading of a wide range of Heidegger’s books, lectures, and articles―including extensive material not yet translated into English―informed by the author’s conversations with Heidegger in 1974 – 76. Each of the four subthemes is treated critically. The aim of the book is to push its interrogations of Heidegger’s thought as far as possible, in order to help the reader toward an independent assessment of his work and to encourage novel, radically conceived approaches to traditional philosophical problems.

216 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 1986

About the author

David Farrell Krell is an American philosopher and professor emeritus at DePaul University, specializing in Continental Philosophy. He earned his Ph.D. from Duquesne University, where he focused on Heidegger and Nietzsche, two figures central to his scholarly work. Krell has taught at various universities in the United States and Europe, contributing extensively to the study of German Idealism, Romanticism, and deconstruction.
He has authored numerous books, including Daimon Life: Heidegger and Life-Philosophy (1992), Infectious Nietzsche (1996), and The Tragic Absolute: German Idealism and the Languishing of God (2005), examining themes of mortality, time, and finitude. His work also explores the intersections of philosophy, literature, and aesthetics, as seen in Lunar Voices (1995) and Archeticture: Ecstasies of Space, Time, and the Human Body (1997). Krell has been a key translator of Heidegger’s lectures on Nietzsche and edited Basic Writings (1977), a widely used collection of Heidegger’s essays.
Influenced by Jacques Derrida, Krell has engaged with deconstructive approaches to Nietzsche and Heidegger, shaping contemporary discussions on these thinkers. His later works, such as Ecstasy, Catastrophe (2015) and The Sea: A Philosophical Encounter (2018), continue his inquiries into existential and aesthetic themes, cementing his reputation as a major voice in modern Continental thought.