Heidegger, Art, and Postmodernity

Iain D. Thomson is a Professor of Philosophy at the University of New Mexico, where he also serves as Director of Graduate Studies. He is the author of Heidegger on Ontotheology: Technology and the Politics of Education (Cambridge University Press, 2005), and his articles have appeared in numerous scholarly journals, essay collections and reference works.

'Heidegger, Art, and Postmodernity is a fascinating, engaging, and deeply insightful book that will have a revolutionary impact on the understanding of Heidegger's later thought, as well as make important contributions to our understanding of postmodernism, not just in philosophy, but in culture studies more broadly. Thomson's central thesis is that Heidegger's later thought is animated by the development of a distinctively postmodern sensibility. The sense in which his thought is postmodern, however, does not conform to the standard conceptions of postmodernism regnant in current literature. Rather, Heidegger's postmodernism lies in his sense that the late modern technologized epoch in which we live hides within itself the possibility of 'another god', a paradigm shift that takes us beyond the modern into a future we cannot yet envision.' William Blattner, Georgetown University

• Introduction: Heidegger, art, and postmodernity; 1. Understanding ontotheology, or 'the history that we are'; 2. Heidegger's critique of modern aesthetics; 3. Heidegger's postmodern understanding of art; 4. 'Even better than the real thing'? Postmodernity, the triumph of simulacra, and U2; 5. Deconstructing the hero: the postmodern comic book; 6. The philosophical fugue: understanding the structure and goal of Heidegger's Contributions to Philosophy (From Enowning); 7. The danger and the promise of Heidegger, an American perspective; 8. Against conclusions.