Ebook: Rethinking Faith: Heidegger between Nietzsche and Wittgenstein

Heidegger has often been considered as the proponent of the end of metaphysics in the post-Hegelian philosophy, due to his persistent attempts to overcome the onto-theological framework of traditional metaphysics. Yet, this dismissal of metaphysical, theological, and religious motives is deeply ambiguous since new forms of metaphysical and religious experience re-emerge in his philosophical works. Heidegger shares this ambiguous relation to the notions of faith and religion with authors such as Nietzsche and Wittgenstein whose works are also marked by a critique of metaphysics and by a characteristic rethinking of the role of faith and religion. In fact, all three still remain, among other things, reference points for contemporary philosophical debates relating to the phenomenon of religion and faith. Rethinking Faith explores how the phenomena of religion and faith are present in the works of Heidegger, Nietzsche, and Wittgenstein, and how these phenomena are brought into play in their discussion of the classical metaphysical motives they criticize.
Heidegger has often been considered as the proponent of the end of metaphysics in post-Hegelian philosophy, due to his persistent attempts to overcome the onto-theological framework of traditional metaphysics. Yet, Heidegger’s dismissal of metaphysical, theological, and religious motives is deeply ambiguous because new forms of metaphysical and religious experience eventually re-emerge in his writings. Heidegger shares this complex relation to faith and religion with authors such as Nietzsche and Wittgenstein, whose works are also marked by a critique of metaphysics and by a characteristic rethinking of the role of faith and religion. The papers in this volume explore how the phenomena of religion and faith are present in the works of Heidegger, Nietzsche, and Wittgenstein, and how these phenomena are brought into play in their discussion of the classical metaphysical motives they criticize. The volume especially discusses how the phenomena of faith and religion are rethought in their work and placed in a new relation to reason and rationality. Clearly, these three philosophers offer different accounts of this relation and the goal of the present volume is not only to clarify this relation between faith and reason but also to show what this newly understood relation implies for the role of faith and religion in philosophy.