Martin Heidegger, Basic Concepts of Ancient Philosophy (Studies in Continental Thought), trans. By Richard Rojcewicz (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2008), Pp. xiv + 253. $39.95.
Richard Rojcewicz teaches philosophy at Point Park University in Pittsburgh, and is the author also of The Gods and Technology (State University of New York Press, 2006). Moreover, he has translated several volumes of the works of Martin Heidegger. Within this latest text under review, Rojcewicz translates a lecture course given by Martin Heidegger in 1926 at the University of Marburg. This text was first published in German as volume Heidegger’s collected works. This book provides Heidegger’s most systematic history of ancient philosophy beginning with Thales and ending with Aristotle. In this lecture, coinciding in production with the completion of his most important work, Being and Time, Heidegger is working out a way to sharply differentiate between beings and Being.
The text is a complete English translation of the title included within the Gesamtausgabe edition of Heidegger’s works. This title includes a preponderance of Greek and Latin terms, which are defined parenthetically upon their first appearance, and it includes a comprehensive glossary of all Greek and Latin terms used. Unfortunately, this text is based upon hand written class lecture notes that are inchoate, as Heidegger was apparently preoccupied with his magnum opus, Being and Time, to the exclusion of the transcription of these notes into a more readable form. As a result, this text is composed of sentences that are often incomplete and sketchy, which makes the reading somewhat difficult. However, it should be noted that the appendix contains excerpts from transcriptions of the lecture by Heidegger’s students at Marburg, which more fully elaborate upon the incomplete lecture notes. I found these transcriptions to be tremendously important, at times, in order to get the ‘sense’ of what Heidegger intentioned to portray.
Within this text (lecture), Heidegger aims to present the basic scientific concepts of ancient philosophy that made possible – and have determined – the course of Western philosophy. Heidegger intends this text to be used as an introduction to ancient philosophy in that he proceeds step by step toward what is meant in the coincepts and toward the way they are formed and grounded. Although intended to be introductory in nature, this text should not be considered as a popularization of the concepts covered within this text. Heidegger contends herein that philosophy deals with ‘universal questions’ that interest every person (1). Moreover, Heidegger asserts that everyone, whether explicitly or implicitly, is engaged in philosophy.
Heidegger considers basic to ancient philosophy the following concepts: Being-truth, principle-cause, possibility-necessity, relation, unity, multiplicity, nature, life, knowledge, and expression-proof (10). Heidegger divides ancient philosophy into four different epochs, according to the kind of questioning prevalent in it: 1) The question of the Being of the world (600-450 B.C.E.), 2) The question of the Being of human existence (450-300 B.C.E.), 3) The practical worldview of Hellenism, and 4) The religious speculation of Neoplatonism. Heidegger posits that ancient philosophy ends in 529 C.E. In part one of this text, Heidegger gives a general introduction to ancient philosophy. Notably, in this introduction he contends that Aristotle is the apex of ancient philosophy, as he unified the fundamental motifs of philosophy done prior to his time (18). In part two of this text, Heidegger discusses the most important Greek philosophers including Heraclitus, Parmenides, Empedocles, and Anaxagoras. In part three of this text, Heidegger delves deeply into the philosophy of Plato, only to then focus acutely upon the philosophy of Aristotle in part four.
It is important to recognize that Heidegger makes no attempt to enumerate the titles of ancient philosophy, nor does he attempt to make a synopsis of the entailments of ancient philosophical texts, which is both a strength and a weakness in my opinion. It is a strength, I contend, because one can find innumerable introductory texts that do this task, so Heidegger need not proverbially waste his time doing so in this text. However, it is also a weakness because one has no way to resource the information directly without perusing the entirety of the ancient authors’ corpus. Heidegger notes that his goal for this title is bring to light the problematic of ancient philosophy, as well as make explicit the lines of development within ancient philosophy. Moreover, he intends to make explicit many basic concepts within ancient philosophy, and several problematics within contemporary philosophy (10). In view of his stated goals, I deem this text to be a success, as Heidegger is lucid and clear in his explication of ancient philosophy in toto. I recommend this text for those who are inclined toward Heideggerian studies, as well those who have interests in ancient philosophy.
Bradford McCall
Regent University