Christopher Fynsk Livres

Christopher Fynsk here offers a sustained critical reading of texts written by Martin Heidegger in the period 1927-1947. His guiding concerns are Heidegger's notions of human finitude and difference, which he first addresses through an analysis of the role played by Mitsein in Being and Time. This analysis in turn affords a critical perspective on Heidegger's own interpretive encounters with Nietzsche and Hölderlin. In a reading of Heidegger's Nietzsche, Fynsk points to a far more ambivalent interpretation than the one commonly attributed to Heidegger. After further elaboration of the problematic of finitude in the context of Heidegger's writings of the 1930s on politics and art, Fynsk looks closely at Heidegger's commentary on Hölderlin. He calls into question Heidegger's claims for the gathering and founding character of poetry, and seeks to raise some basic questions in respect to the nature of the text and the act of interpretation. Presenting a critical confrontation with Heidegger that places itself within what Fynsk refers to as a contemporary "thought of difference," this book should be of interest not only to all students of Heidegger but also to anyone concerned with contemporary literary theory or modern Continental philosophy.

Fynsk (comparative literature and philosophy, Binghampton U.) defends the claim that it is possible to speak of research that is specifically of the humanities, focusing on the conditions of fundamental research. He offers a set of possible paths, without claiming that they are the only ones possible, in order to identify important questions that o

The most recent version of the “linguistic turn,” the revolution in language theory shaped by Saussure’s structural linguistics and realized in a sweeping revision of investigations throughout the humanities and social sciences, has rushed past the most basic “fact”: that there is language. What has been lost? Almost everything of what Heidegger tried to approach under the name of “ontology” until the word proved too laden by common misapprehension to be of use. Most immediately, this is everything of language that exceeds the order of signification, together with the subject’s engagement with this “excess” that is the (non)ground of history and the material site of all relationality, beginning with that unthought that is widely termed “culture.” Language and Relation returns to this site in close readings of meditations on language by Martin Heidegger, Luce Irigaray, Paul Celan, Walter Benjamin, and Maurice Blanchot. It seeks to move with these authors beyond the order of signification and toward the an-archic grounds of relation (of all relations between self and other, and of relation in general), exploring the possibility for a strong link between issues in modern philosophy of language and contemporary socio-political concerns.

The book offers a comprehensive critical analysis of Lacoue-Labarthe's "Phrase," delving into its philosophical underpinnings and its unique blend of prose and poetry. It explores the intricate themes and stylistic elements that define Lacoue-Labarthe's work, revealing how it challenges conventional literary boundaries. This sustained reading aims to enhance the understanding of the text's significance within philosophical discourse and its artistic expression.

In seinem Plädoyer verteidigt Christopher Fynsk die Notwendigkeit der »Humanities« an den Universitäten für die »Fundamentalforschung«. Die »Humanities«-Fakultäten sind weit mehr als eine bloße Anhäufung akademischer Orchideenfächer. Ausgehend von sprachlichen Ereignissen in Kunst, Literatur und Gesellschaft stellen sie vielmehr diejenigen Fragen, die die wesentlichen Dimensionen des Menschen freilegen: Geburt, Tod, Freiheit, Begehren, Gemeinschaft ... Fynsk legt in einer luziden Lektüre von Heidegger, Granel, Readings und Derrida die eingehenderen Argumentationen frei. Er verweist darauf, dass dem Denken des Sprachgebrauchs eine ethische und politische Kraft innewohnt. Die »Humanities« bringen auf diese Weise eine Praxis ins Spiel, in der sich die alten Fundamentalfragen des Menschen einer neuen Zukunft öffnen.