A Companion to Heidegger's "Introduction to Metaphysics"

This book is an excellent aid in understanding Heidegger's often frustrating and always challenging Introduction to Metaphysics. This book consists of a series of essays written by Heidegger scholars on the main topics that are found in Heidegger's text. As the previous reviewer has pointed out this book is not free of the Heideggerian "jargon" that is often so frustrating to the new-comer, and it would certainly help in approaching this work to be already fairly familiar at least with Being and Time. In fact, I would not suggest that anyone who has not read Heidegger's Being and Time attempt to tackle Heidegger's Introduction to Metaphysics at all. But that is my personal opinion. It is also my opinion that a Heidegger secondary that was entirely free of Heideggerian jargon would be of somewhat limited value. No doubt there is a suspicion when reading Heidegger and his many commentators that they are being purposely or unnecessarily obscure. One often gets the feeling that matters could and should be stated much more plainly and in plainer language. I think there is some truth to that feeling. But the role of a Heidegger secondary source is not just to explain Heidegger's main thoughts, but also to try to make his jargon and terminology more understandable. That is precisely what this text accomplishes. But I don't think that can be done if you simply avoid Heidegger's frustrating terminology altogether. After reading this text I had a much better understanding of Heidegger's interpretation of the Greek concept of physis which is probably the central notion of the whole book, as well as his interpretations of Parmenides, Heraclitus, and Sophocles's ode. I also felt like I was finally getting a glimpse into the notion of Ereignis and it's historical nature. And even terms like "the emerging-abiding sway" began to take on some meaning. This work also ties Heidegger's Introduction to Metaphysics back to his earlier thought especially as it is expressed in Being and Time, and to his later thought, especially his Contributions to Philosophy (which I have not read yet). All in all I found this to be an indispensable guide to reading Heidegger's Introduction to Metaphysics. That does not mean it was easy. Both books were, and still remain, very challenging works for me. There are still many concepts and ideas that remain obscure to me even after reading both these texts. But I think reading Heidegger's text can be likened to climbing a mountain. There is simply no way to make it easy, but it is still infinitely easier if you have a guide as opposed to trying to tackle it on your own. And this guide serves that purpose well. -Brian