REVIEWSrnAuthenticity andrnOpportunityrnby Paul GottfriedrnHeideggerrnby David E. CooperrnLondon: Claridge Press; 94 pp.rnDavid Cooper has written a first-raternintroduction to the hfe andrnthought of Martin Heidegger. Despiternthe brevity of his work, Cooper hasrnpacked into it a biographical sketch ofrnHeidegger, a discussion of Being andrnTime (1927) and of Heidegger’s other intcrwarrnand postwar writings, an appraisalrnof interpretive literature dealing with hisrnsubject’s involvement with the Nazis,rnand a concluding bibliographical essay.rnOne marvels at the lean graceful prosernand the breadth of learning revealed inrnthis text. Heideggcrian terminology—rne.g., Sein, Dasein, Sein in der Welt, Sorge,rnand Zuhandensein—is clarified andrnillustrated, and Cooper shows the architectonicsrnof Heidegger’s anthology byrnhelping the reader to understand its conceptualrnpoints of reference. He also underscoresrnthe degree to which Heideggerrnassociated the understanding of existencernand existents with the situation ofrnbeing rooted. For Heidegger philosophicalrnunderstanding did not proceed fromrnbeing a disinterested spectator, gazing atrnlife from outside. It came with the preconditionrnof being beheimatet, situatedrnwithin a specific cultural and communalrnhorizon.rnCooper notes the centrality of EdmundrnHusseri’s phenomenology in leadingrnHeidegger toward this view. Heidegger’srnmentor at Freiburg, Ilusserl hadrnstressed the need to reconstruct the sciencernof knowledge around structuredrnmeditation on the essential aspectsrnof knowing. Through his epistemicrnmethod Husserl hoped to separate thernaccidental and fleeting from the permanentrnparts of perception, and this wouldrnoccur through a complicated process ofrnbracketing [epoche). For Husserl and forrnI Icidegger cognition involved intentionality,rna deliberate privileging of particularrnsensory data by the percipient: a soundrnepistemology, for Husserl would, moreover,rnaim at understanding the internalrnstructure of will and mind operating behindrneach perception.rnHeidegger accepted the notion of intentionality,rnbut believed that Husserlrnwas engaging in “erroneous subjectivizing”rnby looking to his own consciousnessrnfor philosophic answers, histead, Heideggerrnthought, he should have focusedrnon the integral relation between the subjectrnand the subject’s condition of being.rnHeidegger transferred the concept of intentionahtyrnto an ontological contextrnand proceeded to look at the unfoldingrnof life as “being in the world.” What hadrnto be bracketed were not the abstract extrapolationsrnof our thinking but whatrnHeidegger saw as the conditions for ourrnacting in the world: understanding, fallennessrninto being, and situatednessrn(Befindlichkeit). These, for Heidegger,rnare the “existentiala” that define our interpersonalrnengagements; and, ratherrnthan approaching life as detached rationalrnbeings, we necessarily pursue existencern(Heidegger insists in Being andrnTime) as bearers of “care” (Sorge). Oncernhurled into the wodd we can make sensernof it only while being rooted in humanrnrelations and living with collective commitments.rn1997 Soutfiem LeaguernSummer InstituternJuly 6-11,1997 (Sunday evening throughrnFriday noon)rnCamp St. Christopher, Johns Island,rnSouth Carolina (Near Charleston)rnJirst-class resort accommodations on ific beach.rnH^om (Double occiwancy), Board and tuition:rn$375 per studentrnbefore June 1; $425 thereafterrnSeminars in Southern fustory, literature, poCiticafpfiilbsopfiy,rntfieobgy, and art by some of the South’sfinestrnunreconstructed scholars, inchidingrnThomas Fleming, David Aiken, Clyde Wilson,rnamong others. Severaf seminars mHbe held inrnhistoric buddings in the city of Charleston itseff.rn(juided tour of historic Charleston incbided.rnFor further information, write The Southern League,rnP.O. Box 40910, Ibscaloosa, Alabama, 35404,rnor call (205) 553-0155. Space is limited, so contact us as soon as possible tornreserve your place.rnAPRIL 1997/35rnrnrn