Brian Leiter skewers Chronical reporter Carlin Romano (yet again) for a piece that calls Heidegger a “provincial Nazi hack.”
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Hooked. I appreciate that Leiter takes the time to care about this kind of stuff but disagree with his tossaway line towards the end of the essay that Heidegger is derivative.
Not sure that even has meaning, but Heidegger was well read and lived in texts, so his thought follows closely with the work of others. That being said, it looked like Leiter was saying he was just rehashing ideas others had, which I would have to see demonstrated.
Heidegger’s thought defines a method as much as a set of ideas and I would challenge anyone to prove he isn’t providing something unique or valuable. At the very least, his influence on the next generation of thinkers and the fact that in 2009 people still feel motivated to call him a ‘provincial Nazi hack’ should say something for his contribution.