Heidegger's Conversations

Katherine Davies is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at the University of Texas at Dallas.

• AcknowledgmentsNotes on Abbreviations and ConventionsIntroduction: Conversations, with Heidegger1. The "Triadic Conversation": Non-Oppositional Pedagogy2. The "Tower Conversation": Mistaking Pedagogy3. The "Evening Conversation": Communal Pedagogy4. The "Western Conversation": Poetizing Pedagogy5. "From a Conversation of Language": Endangering PedagogyConclusion: Learning from/through/beyond HeideggerNotesBibliographyIndex

"In this first and most welcome examination of all five of Heidegger's 'conversational' texts (widely and perhaps misleadingly referred to as 'dialogues,' and including the as yet untranslated 'Western Conversation'), Katherine Davies addresses the crucial Heideggerian issue of the possible 'overcoming' of metaphysics in its manifestation as a development of a 'poetic pedagogy.' She shows convincingly that the five conversations contain a coherent and sustained reflection on pedagogy—teaching and learning—that calls for the five texts to be read seriatim. In a provocative but persuasive conclusion, she shows that Heidegger's own pedagogical practice fell woefully short of his own teaching." — Drew A. Hyland, author of Plato and the Question of Beauty"Davies's detailed and careful readings of Heidegger's five dialogues sheds important light on Heidegger's understanding of pedagogy, metaphysical thinking, language, Gelassenheit, and much more. The result is a masterful work that contains something of interest for every Heidegger scholar." — Shane Ewegen, co-translator (with Julia Goesser Assainte) of Heraclitus: The Inception of Occidental Thinking and Logic: Heraclitus's Doctrine of the Logos