Hostname: page-component-cb9f654ff-hqlzj Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-08-21T14:54:06.963Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The late Heidegger and a post-theistic understanding of religion

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 May 2018

RICO GUTSCHMIDT
RICO GUTSCHMIDT*
Affiliation:
Universität Konstanz, Fachbereich Philosophie, 78457Konstanz, Germany
*
e-mail: ricogutschmidt@gmail.com
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article explores Heidegger's later philosophy with regard to the problem of a philosophical interpretation of religious language. In what follows, I will draw upon the work of Wittgenstein and refer to the cosmological argument to read Heidegger in terms of a post-theistic understanding of religious language that avoids the shortcomings of both theistic realism and non-cognitivism. At the same time, I am proposing a new interpretation of Heidegger's later philosophy against this background. I will show that, in spite of its hermeticism, Heidegger's later philosophy has a specific relevance to philosophy of religion that still needs to be explored.

Information

Type
Original Article
Information
Religious Studies , Volume 56 , Issue 2 , June 2020 , pp. 152 - 168
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2018

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Bailey, Andrew (ed.) (2004) First Philosophy III: God, Mind, and Freedom: Fundamental Problems and Readings in Philosophy (Ontario: Broadview Press).Google Scholar
Black, Max (1962) Models and Metaphors: Studies in Language and Philosophy (Ithaca: Cornell University Press).Google Scholar
Blumenberg, Hans (1988) Schiffbruch mit Zuschauer: Paradigma einer Daseinsmetapher (Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp).Google Scholar
Blumenberg, Hans (2010) Paradigms for a Metaphorology (Ithaca: Cornell University Press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Braver, Lee (2012) Groundless Grounds: A Study of Wittgenstein and Heidegger (Cambridge MA & London: MIT Press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burley, Mikel (2012) Contemplating Religious Forms of Life: Wittgenstein and D. Z. Phillips (London & New York: Continuum).Google Scholar
Colony, Tracy (2008) ‘The wholly other: being and the last God in Heidegger's contributions to philosophy’, Journal of the British Society for Phenomenology, 39, 186–199.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crowe, Benjamin D. (2008) Heidegger's Phenomenology of Religion: Realism and Cultural Criticism (Bloomington: Indiana University Press).Google Scholar
Dalferth, Ingolf & Hunziker, Andreas (eds) (2014) Gott denken – ohne Metaphysik? (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck).Google Scholar
Dillard, Peter S. (2008) Heidegger and Philosophical Atheology: A Neo-scholastic Critique (London: Continuum).Google Scholar
Fischer, Norbert & Von Hermann, Friedrich-Wilhelm (eds) (2011) Die Gottesfrage im Denken Martin Heideggers (Hamburg: Meiner).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gennaro, Ivo & Zaccaria, Gino (2013) ‘Um des Seyns willen – Heidegger und der Schritt zum Grund’, in Schubbe, D., Lemanski, J., & Hauswald, R. (eds) Warum ist überhaupt etwas und nicht vielmehr nichts? Wandel und Variationen einer Frage (Hamburg: Meiner), 227–262.Google Scholar
Gutschmidt, Rico (2016) Sein ohne Grund: Die post-theistische Religiosität im Spätwerk Martin Heideggers (Freiburg & Munich: Alber).Google Scholar
Gutschmidt, Rico & Rentsch, Thomas (eds) (2016) Gott ohne Theismus? Neue Positionen zu einer zeitlosen Frage (Münster: Mentis).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hare, Richard M. (1955) ‘Theology and falsification’, in Flew, A. & MacIntyre, A. (eds) New Essays in Philosophical Theology (London: SCM Press), 99–103.Google Scholar
Heidegger, Martin (1969) Identity and Difference, Stambaugh, Joan (tr.) (New York: Harper & Row).Google Scholar
Heidegger, Martin (1971) On the Way to Language, Hertz, Peter D. (tr.) (New York: Harper & Row).Google Scholar
Heidegger, Martin (1982) ‘Nihilism and the history of being’, in Krell, D. F. (ed.) Martin Heidegger: Nietzsche IV. Nihilism (New York: Harper & Row), 199–250.Google Scholar
Heidegger, Martin (1998a) Basic Concepts, Aylesworth, Gary (tr.) (Bloomington: Indiana University Press).Google Scholar
Heidegger, Martin (1998b) ‘Letter on “humanism”’, in McNeill, W. (ed.) Martin Heidegger: Pathmarks (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), 239–276.Google Scholar
Heidegger, Martin (1998c) ‘Postscript to “What is Metaphysics?”’, in McNeill, W. (ed.) Martin Heidegger: Pathmarks (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), 231–238.Google Scholar
Heidegger, Martin (1999) Contributions to Philosophy, Emad, Parvis & Maly, Kenneth (trs) (Bloomington: Indiana University Press).Google Scholar
Heidegger, Martin (2000) ‘Hölderlin and the essence of poetry’, in Hoeller, K. (ed.) Martin Heidegger: Elucidations of Hölderlin's Poetry (New York: Humanity Books), 51–65.Google Scholar
Heidegger, Martin (2002) ‘The age of the world picture’, in Young, J. & Haynes, K. (eds) Martin Heidegger: Off the Beaten Track (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), 57–85.Google Scholar
Heidegger, Martin (2006) Mindfulness, Emad, Parvis & Kalary, Thomas (trs) (London: Continuum).Google Scholar
Hemming, Laurence P. (2002) Heidegger's Atheism: The Refusal of a Theological Voice (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press).Google Scholar
Hempel, Carl G. (1973) ‘Science unlimited?’, Annals of the Japan Association for the Philosophy of Science, 4, 187–202.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hesse, Mary (1963) Models and Analogies in Science (London: Sheed & Ward).Google Scholar
Hume, David (2007) Dialogues concerning Natural Religion (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).Google Scholar
Ionescu, Cristina (2002) ‘The concept of the last god in Heidegger's Beiträge: hints towards and understanding of the gift of Sein’, Studia Phaenomenologica, 2, 59–95.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kant, Immanuel (1998) Critique of Pure Reason (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kearney, Richard (2002) ‘Last gods and final things: faith and philosophy’, Yearbook of the Irish Philosophical Society, 71–82.Google Scholar
Lakoff, George & Johnson, Mark (1980) Metaphors We Live By (Chicago: University of Chicago Press).Google Scholar
Mackie, John L. (1982) The Miracle of Theism (New York: Oxford University Press).Google Scholar
Phillips, Dewi Z. (1976) Religion without Explanation (Oxford: Blackwell).Google Scholar
Phillips, Dewi Z. (1993) ‘On really believing’, in Runzo, J. (ed.) Is God Real? (London: Macmillan), 85–108.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Phillips, Dewi Z. (2004) The Problem of Evil and the Problem of God (London: SCM Press).Google Scholar
Ricoeur, Paul (1975) La Métaphor Vive (Paris: Le Seuil).Google Scholar
Sass, Hartmut von (2010) Sprachspiele des Glaubens: Eine Studie zur kontemplativen Religionsphilosophie von Dewi Z. Phillips mit ständiger Rücksicht auf Ludwig Wittgenstein (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck).Google Scholar
Schalow, Frank (2010) Heidegger and the Quest for the Sacred: From Thought to the Sanctuary of Faith (Dordrecht: Kluwer).Google Scholar
Schneider, Hans J. (2008) Religion (Berlin & New York: de Gruyter).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Strhan, Anna (2011) ‘Religious language as poetry: Heidegger's challenge’, The Heythrop journal, 52, 926–938.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tillich, Paul (2000) The Courage to Be (New Haven & London: Yale University Press).Google Scholar
Tracy, David (1981) The Analogical Imagination: Christian Theology and the Culture of Pluralism (New York: Crossroads).Google Scholar
Vedder, Ben (2007) Heidegger's Philosophy of Religion: From God to the Gods (Pittsburgh: Duquesne University Press).Google Scholar
Waismann, Friedrich (1965) ‘Notes on talks with Wittgenstein’, The Philosophical Review, 74, 12–16.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Westerkamp, Dirk (2006) Via negativa: Sprache und Methode der negativen Theologie (Munich: Fink).Google Scholar
Westphal, Merold (2001) Overcoming Onto-Theology: Toward a Postmodern Christian Faith (New York: Fordham University Press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wittgenstein, Ludwig (1965) ‘Lecture on ethics’, The Philosophical Review, 74, 3–12.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wittgenstein, Ludwig (1967) Lectures and Conversations on Aesthetics, Psychology, and Religious Belief (Berkeley & Los Angeles: University of California Press).Google Scholar
Wittgenstein, Ludwig (1998) Culture and Value: A Selection from the Posthumous Remains (Oxford: Basil Blackwell).Google Scholar
Wittgenstein, Ludwig (2003) ‘Movements of thought’, in Klagge, J. C. & Nordmann, A. (eds) Ludwig Wittgenstein: Public and Private Occasions (Oxford: Rowman & Littlefield), 3–255.Google Scholar
Wittgenstein, Ludwig (2009) Philosophical Investigations (Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell).Google Scholar