Schurmann is the author of one of the two best books on Heidegger. He's a brilliant reader and a careful, precise, dense (and therefore, difficult) writer. To sum up very quickly and loosely, in Being and Acting, he traces (in a rigorous and informed, rather than sloganeering, way) how the intelligibility of things depends on their history and context. Much of that context in turn can be traced back to a particular guiding (or "foundational," if you like) referent: the cosmos for the Greeks, God for the Medievals, etc. What Heidegger recognizes (Schurmann clearly understands Heidegger's debt to Nietzsche here), is that, not only does becoming intelligible have a history, but the very act of referring to a principal referent is also a practice with a history: there was a time, and there could yet come a time, when it will no longer be done.
Broken Hegemonies is Schurmann's examination of what it means to live and act "without principles." It sounds like some sexy Post-Modern topic, and, well, it is. But Schurmann is (was, actually: he died several years ago) an extraordinary scholar: erudite and sober. He is one of the few people I would expect to do the matter justice.
Any chance you'll say more about your interest in that book? It looks interesting, but I don't know how I feel about the price tag...
Posted by paul | Link to this comment | 10-20-03 11:46 AM
Happy to.
Schurmann is the author of one of the two best books on Heidegger. He's a brilliant reader and a careful, precise, dense (and therefore, difficult) writer. To sum up very quickly and loosely, in Being and Acting, he traces (in a rigorous and informed, rather than sloganeering, way) how the intelligibility of things depends on their history and context. Much of that context in turn can be traced back to a particular guiding (or "foundational," if you like) referent: the cosmos for the Greeks, God for the Medievals, etc. What Heidegger recognizes (Schurmann clearly understands Heidegger's debt to Nietzsche here), is that, not only does becoming intelligible have a history, but the very act of referring to a principal referent is also a practice with a history: there was a time, and there could yet come a time, when it will no longer be done.
Broken Hegemonies is Schurmann's examination of what it means to live and act "without principles." It sounds like some sexy Post-Modern topic, and, well, it is. But Schurmann is (was, actually: he died several years ago) an extraordinary scholar: erudite and sober. He is one of the few people I would expect to do the matter justice.
Does that answer the question?
Posted by ogged | Link to this comment | 10-20-03 1:15 PM
Umm, which one was Kevin Spacey again?
Posted by Bob | Link to this comment | 10-20-03 1:20 PM
Dude! $95 bucks at Amazon.com!!
And a bargain $45 for the paperback. How big is that thing?
-Magik
Posted by Magik | Link to this comment | 10-21-03 1:03 AM
sounds fascinating... maybe I'll pick it up if my student loans ever get credited. Until then, you'll have to let me know how it is...
Posted by paul | Link to this comment | 10-21-03 7:49 AM