Gregory Smith persuasively displays both the unity and tension in Heidegger's work, subtly clarifies several of Heidegger's most difficult thoughts, and carefully outlines the scope of his influence. -- Mark Blitz, Fletcher Jones Professor of Political Philosophy, Claremont McKenna College Smith presents in detail the insights of Heidegger's work, following this with series of 'deflections,' or differing paths taken by philosophers who incorporate varying, sometimes opposed aspects of his work: Arendt, Derrisa, Strauss, Gadamer, Marcus, and Rorty. Smith concludes that Heidegger emphasizes philosophy's roosts in 'the phenomenological or pretheoretical experince of realtiy' and the reciporcal realtionship between philosophy and praxis. Recommended. CHOICE "Both erudite and passionate, Gregory Smith's Martin Heidegger demonstrates the critical importance of Heidegger's thought for understanding our present philosophical dilemmas and for charting a genuinely human future. While fully acknowledging Heidegger's terrible political and moral errors and misdeeds, Smith at the same time rescues the profoundest level of his thinking from both its partisan detractors and its 'postmodernist' vulgarizers. Smith's book merits the attention of all serious students of political philosophy." -- David Lewis Schaefer, Professor of Political Science, Holy Cross College
