Martin Heidegger and Jean-Luc Nancy on Community

Abstract

This project will be an examination of the concept of community as it relates to ethics in the works of Martin Heidegger and Jean-Luc Nancy. I will examine Heidegger's thought concerning community and ethics, then the reception of that thought in the secondary literature. I will then examine Nancy's thought concerning community and ethics and his thought's reception in the secondary literature. The critical portion of this project will be an evaluation of Nancy's critical relationship with Heidegger's thought. I will clarify and defend Nancy's arguments against Heidegger's thought. I will also support solution that Nancy proposes. Finally, I will attempt to resolve a criticism commonly launched against Nancy: that his thought fails to engage concrete politics precisely where is must. I will argue that Nancy's thought does indeed engage the concrete by encouraging the development of a praxis, comportment or lifestyle amongst its recipients. Nancy's thought engages us in a dialogue. This dialogue is something which can, and does, continue outside of our relationship with the texts we read, potentially affecting the way we relate to others in our everyday lives.