stambaugh

Review of

JOAN STAMBAUGH'S The Finitude of Being. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1992. viii + 200 pp.

by Frank H. W.Edler

     Joan Stambaugh's slim volume is a remarkable achievement given the difficulty and complexity of the subject matter: Heidegger's later thought on the finitude of being. Essentially her work is an extended exposition of and meditation on the problem of finitude as concealment which lies at the heart of Heidegger's conception of aletheia. Her investigation draws from an extremely wide range of Heidegger's work which spans both his second and third periods and thus includes the shift in his thought from the truth of being to Appropriation and the Fourfold.

    Stambaugh sets the stage by carefully distinguishing the various meanings of concealment (preservation, strife with unconcealing, distortion,and process) on the basis of four directives for thinking aletheia set forth in Heidegger's lecture course on Parmenides given in 1942-43 (now just made available in translation). After an examination of Framing, she turns to the Open -- Heidegger's fourth directive for thinking aletheia. She presents the metaphysical version of it via Rilke and then contrasts this to Heidegger’s own non-metaphysical interpretation of it as die Lichtung which presupposes both concealment and unconcealment. All of this is then summarized and assessed again in order to prepare the reader for an examination of the problem of concealment (and withdrawal) in relation to the later, non-metaphysical names (not concepts) Heidegger used for being such as Appropriation and the Fourfold. Both names are fully discussed and then investigated in relation to finitude; Appropriation in relation to expropriation, withdrawal, and concealment; the Fourfold in relation to the not inherent in the mirror-play as a mode of clearing and emptying. The respective conclusion in each case is that concealment and the not belong absolutely to being.

    However, prior to her final assessment of the meaning of finitude and concealment in her concluding chapter, Stambaugh presents a rigorous overview of Heidegger's hefty Beitraege zur Philosophie in which the question of the turn from Framing to Appropriation becomes figural as a turning within being itself. This "digression" -- the longest chapter in the book -- allows her final reexamination of finitude and concealment against the background of the transmutation from the first to the other beginning. It is an extremely valuable contribution towards understanding the sweep of Heidegger's text without getting bogged down in "bitzerising."

One of the virtues of Stambaugh's style is her ability to get to the heart of the matter quickly and confront it directly while at the same time exhibiting a singular sensitivity to both the complexity of Heidegger's thought and his nuanced usage of the German language. Her mastery as a translator of Heidegger stands her in good stead here. One can only hope that after this work her translation of Being and Time will finally
see the light of publication -- that is, before we all die.

Anyone studying or teaching Heidegger’s later philosophy would do well to use Stambaugh's The Finitude of Being as a map or guide for charting the topology of his thought. The final pleasure of reading this book, however, is tucked away in the epilogue. Here she includes a real gem in the form of an imaginary dialogue between Heidegger and a Buddhist on the question of nothingness. And the Buddhist even manages to wring a concession from Heidegger!

FRANK H. W. EDLER

JOAN STAMBAUGH'S The Finitude of Being. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1992. viii + 200 pp. by Frank H. W.Edler

JOAN STAMBAUGH'S The Finitude of Being. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1992. viii + 200 pp.

by Frank H. W.Edler