Heidegger's style: on philosophical anthropology and aesthetics

Addressing Heidegger's continuing centrality to continental thought, Markus Weidler argues that Heidegger's prickly charm is best explained in terms of his great ingenuity, crafting a novel genre of writing which promises to harness the revelatory power of artworks for the purpose of philosophical inquiry.

In doing so, Heidegger challenges the reader with a provocative form of artisan thinking, which for Weidler is central to understanding the significance of Heidegger's work overall.

The book deals with his hostility by addressing what we are to make of Heidegger's frequent but elusive dismissals of philosophical anthropology as a field of study.

This survey of Heidegger's complex relation to philosophical anthropology traces how pioneering thinkers like Schelling and Schiller paved the way not only for Heidegger but also for some of his potential competitors, most notably Max Scheler and Georg Simmel.