Heidegger And Asian Thought

In the current resurgence of interest in Heidegger, an important aspect of his thought has been neglected--namely, his long-standing interest in Asian philosophy. Heidegger and Asian Thought is the first book devoted to exploring this fascinating topic. It brings together essays twelve scholars from India, China, Japan, Germany, and the United States, most of which were written especially for this volume. The essays discuss Heidegger`s thinking in relation to Vedanta, Taoism, Zen, and Tibetan Buddhist philosophy. Heidegger`s acquaintance with Asian thought--beginning from his familiarity with the Chuang-tzu as early as 1930--is fully documented, including an account of his work on a partial translation of the Tao Te` Ching into German. This book will be of interest not only to Heidegger scholars but also to students of Asian and comparative philosophy and religion.

This Element elucidates the metamorphoses of Heidegger's comportment toward Eastern/Asian thought from the 1910s to the 1960s. With a view to the many meanings of the East at play in Heidegger's thinking, it considers how his diversified 'dialogues' with the East are embedded in different phases of his Denkweg. Various themes unexplored previously are examined: Heidegger's early treatment of near Eastern traditions and Islamic philosophy, his views on alien cultures, the 'primitive Dasein' and the 'mythical Dasein,' and his meditation on Russianism's deeply rooted spirituality and its recuperative possibilities for the West. Finally, this Element reveals how Heidegger opened the promise of a dialogue with the East and yet stepped back from the threshold, and how his move from the Occidental line of philosophizing toward the Oriental line is integral to his shift from the guiding question of “Being” to the abyssal question of 'Beyng.'

Nietzsche's work has had a significant impact on the intellectual life of non-Western cultures and elicited responses from thinkers outside of the Anglo-American philosophical traditions as well. These essays address the connection between his ideas and ph

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.

This book traces a most obscure and yet most intriguing theme concealed in Heidegger’s thinking and work, which has hitherto not yet been made the focus of a thorough and sustained investigation: that is, the emergence and course of Heidegger’s interest in East Asian thought and of his reflection on East-West dialogue. Lin Ma covers such complex issues as Heidegger’s thoughts on language, Being, technology, the other beginning, and the journey abroad, with a view to their implications for East-West dialogue. It reveals the significance of his remarks on the early Greek’s confrontation with the Asiatic, and presents contextualized interpretations of his fleeting references to the topic of East-West dialogue and of his encounter with the Daodejing. Finally, it delves into "A dialogue on language" and exposes the strains and tensions that accompany Heidegger’s extension of dialogue and the Same, the two notions central to his thought, to the question of East-West dialogue. In the end, Lin Ma concludes that Heidegger’s fundamental concerns and philosophical orientations as articulated in terms of the history of Being and the other beginning have restricted him from engaging more seriously with the irresolvable and yet enduring issue of East-West dialogue.

Presenting a comprehensive portrayal of the reading of Chinese and Buddhist philosophy in early twentieth-century German thought, Chinese and Buddhist Philosophy in Early Twentieth-Century German Thought examines the implications of these readings for contemporary issues in comparative and intercultural philosophy. Through a series of case studies from the late 19th-century and early 20th-century, Eric Nelson focuses on the reception and uses of Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism in German philosophy, covering figures as diverse as Buber, Heidegger, and Misch. He argues that the growing intertextuality between traditions cannot be appropriately interpreted through notions of exclusive identities, closed horizons, or unitary traditions. Providing an account of the context, motivations, and hermeneutical strategies of early twentieth-century European thinkers' interpretation of Asian philosophy, Nelson also throws new light on the question of the relation between Heidegger and Asian philosophy. Reflecting the growing interest in the possibility of intercultural and global philosophy, Chinese and Buddhist Philosophy in Early Twentieth-Century German Thought opens up the possibility of a more inclusive intercultural conception of philosophy.

"These 13 essays seek to discover common ground between Levinas's ethical project and various religious and philosophical traditions of Asia such as Mahayana Buddhism, Theravadic Buddhism, Vedism, Confucianism, Daoism, and Islam"--

In this book, Katrin Froese juxtaposes the Daoist texts of Laozi and Zhuangzi with the thought of Nietzsche and Heidegger to argue that there is a need for rethinking the idea of a cosmological whole. By moving away from the quest for certainty, Froese suggests a way of philosophizing that does not seek to capture the whole, but rather becomes a means of affirming a connection to it, one that celebrates difference rather than eradicating it. Human beings have a vague awareness of the infinite, but they are nevertheless finite beings. Froese maintains that rather than bemoaning the murkiness of knowledge, the thinkers considered here celebrate the creativity and tendency to wander through that space of not knowing, or "in-between-ness." However, for Neitzsche and the early Heidegger, this in-between-ness can often produce a sense of meaninglessness that sends individuals on a frenetic quest to mark out space that is uniquely their own. Laozi and Zhuangzi, on the other hand, paint a portrait of the self that provides openings for others rather than deliberately forging an identity that it can claim as its own. In this way, human beings can become joyful wanderers that revel in the movements of the Dao and are comfortable with their own finitude. Froese also suggests that Nietzsche and Heidegger are philosophers at a crossroads, for they both exemplify the modern emphasis on self-creation and at the same time share the Daoist insight into the perils of excessive egoism that can lead to misguided attempts to master the world.