Overview

The Early Heidegger and Medieval Philosophy is a major interpretive study of Heidegger's complex relationship to medieval philosophy. S. J. McGrath's contribution is historical and biographical as well as philosophical, examining how the enthusiastic defender of the Aristotelian-Scholastic tradition became the great destroyer of metaphysical theology. This book provides an informative and comprehensive examination of Heidegger's changing approach to medieval sources--from the seminary studies of Bonaventure to the famous phenomenological destructions of medieval ontology. McGrath argues that the mid-point of this development, and the high point of Heidegger's reading of medieval philosophy, is the widely neglected habilitation thesis on Scotus and speculative grammar. He shows that this neo-Kantian retrieval of phenomenological moments in the metaphysics of Scotus and Thomas of Erfurt marks the beginning of a turn from metaphysics to existential phenomenology. McGrath's careful hermeneutical reconstruction of this complex trajectory uncovers the roots of Heidegger's critique of ontotheology in a Luther-inspired defection from his largely Scholastic formation. In the end McGrath argues that Heidegger fails to do justice to the spirit of medieval philosophy. The book sheds new light on a long-debated question of the early Heidegger's theological significance. Far from a neutral phenomenology, Heidegger's masterwork, Being and Time, is shown to be a philosophically questionable overturning of the medieval theological paradigm.

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McGrath's book is an impressive study of Heidegger's philosophy, which sheds light on almost all aspects of the early Heidegger and undoubtedly the book is an important contribution to the understanding of the relationship between Heidegger's philosophy and theology. - Christian Lotz, The Medieval Review Over the last fifteen years or so, inquiry into Heidegger has been greatly enriched by studies of Heidegger's early development. . . . McGrath's study provides a useful addition to this body of scholarship, extending our understanding of Heidegger's relation to medieval theology, while offering a novel critical perspective on the course of this relation. - Glenn Branch, Philosophy in Review

“McGrath's book is an impressive study of Heidegger's philosophy, which sheds light on almost all aspects of the early Heidegger and undoubtedly the book is an important contribution to the understanding of the relationship between Heidegger's philosophy and theology.” - Christian Lotz, The Medieval Review “Over the last fifteen years or so, inquiry into Heidegger has been greatly enriched by studies of Heidegger's early development. . . . McGrath's study provides a useful addition to this body of scholarship, extending our understanding of Heidegger's relation to medieval theology, while offering a novel critical perspective on the course of this relation.” - Glenn Branch, Philosophy in Review

Author Information

S. J. McGrath is associate professor of philosophy at Memorial University of Newfoundland in Canada.

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