In the wake of a heated commentary by Carlin Romano in The Chronicle Review, the academy has revived a familiar and unsettling debate over the merits of philosopher Martin Heidegger's work in light of his well-known connections to Nazism. The publication of Emmanuel Faye's book, Heidegger: The Introduction of Nazism into Philosophy, in a new English translation has provided the impetus for the uproar, provoking both those, like Romano, who agree with Faye's arguments and those that seek to separate Heidegger's politics from his philosophy. The New York Times recently framed the debate as "An Ethical Question", one that is unlikely to be soon answered.
Though Faye's book has certainly incited the greatest controversy of late, it might be considered part of a trio of new books from Yale University Press delving into the controversies surrounding three of the 20th century's most influential philosophers. New works on Jean-Paul Sartre and Jacques Derrida round out the collection.
John Gerassi's 1989 biography of Sartre carried the subtitle "Hated Conscience of his Century." His most recent work, Talking with Sartre, may come closest to illuminating the thoughts and experiences that informed that inimitable conscience. In the early 1970s, Gerassi carried out a series of interviews with Sartre in preparation for the writing of his biography and, in the process, was granted unbelievable access to the writer. Their conversations range widely, covering literature, politics, and society, as well as Sartre's relationships, family, and his affairs. In this edited volume, Gerassi's probing questions and easy familiarity with his subject create an intimate portrait of this influential intellectual figure.
As David Mikics writes in his introduction to Who Was Jacques Derrida?, "During his lifetime, Derrida elicited both intense celebration and intense scorn." As a key of proponent of deconstruction, Derrida is known for his highly difficult style of writing, which occasionally seeks to undermine the act of writing itself, illustrating "the unreliability inherent in meaning," as Mikics explains it. Derrida attracted a bevy of critics during his lifetime, and in the video below, taken from a 2002 documentary, he addresses the "fear" he occasionally felt during the writing process.
