Heidegger and the Paradox of the Subject

The debate about the subject is largely determined by two seemingly irreconcilable perspectives: either the subject is conceived as the “ground of” and “condition for” or as the “product” and “effect of” (power) structures. This study brings both perspectives together by tracing them back to the paradoxical constitution of the subject itself: the paradox of the subject lies in the simultaneity of (subject) becoming and (subject) being. The question on which this investigation focuses is therefore: how is it possible for the subject to assert itself in its being by intervening in the conditions to which it is subjected in its becoming?

In a detailed reading of Being and Time, it is shown to what extent Heidegger’s insistence on the futurity and irreducible potentiality of existence helps to grasp the paradox of the subject. At the same time, the work develops a radical critique of Heidegger’s conception, which forfeits its potential where it argues in categories of destiny, the people and the (historical) power of origin. In the search for ever more original foundations, the conception becomes entangled in an aporia and ultimately a cultural determinism, which also comes to bear in the determination of the corporeality and gender of existence.

(In German only)

361 pages, paperback, format 15.5 x 23.5 cm

Epistemata Philosophy, vol. 295

Publication date: 1st quarter 2015

€ 49.80 – ISBN 978-3-8260-1997-5