Michael Bowler Review II

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Heidegger and Aristotle. Philosophy as Praxis by Michael BowlerReview by: Pierre MauboussinThe Review of Metaphysics, Vol. 62, No. 4 (Jun., 2009), pp. 912-914Published by: Philosophy Education Society Inc.Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40387772 .

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912 BRANDONZIMMERMAN NDSTAFF(intuitionr ntellect). aracchi otes hatAristotle'snsistencen "themutual xclusivityfpraxis andpoiesis is suspect n light f thepervasivenessf he anguage ftekhnnthe thical iscourse"p. 181).Ethics, he claims,s itself kindofmaking.Furthermorehere s aclose relation etween ekhn ndphusis. Notonly s demonstrationbasedonprincipleshat renotdemonstrable,utAristotlenderscoresthe mportancef convictionnd trust n his explicationfepistm.Firstphilosophys not to be confusedwith pistmscience): t isintrinsicallythical. Nous is nondiscursive,onlinear,nd entailscertainimmediacy. Baracchi stresses that nous involvesbothintellectualnd sensible erception.Indeed,tconstitutesheultimatelimit f ogos, hatwhich emainsnassimilableo ogos" p. 195). Inherexamination fphronsis, aracchi hows that n addition o beingintimatelyelated o the virtues f character, hronsis nvolvesgenuinelyontemplativeheoretical oment.Withophiawe reach heculminationfAristotle'sthics. It s theunion fnous andepistm,but lso involves heconvergencefperceptionnd trust. ophia s atonce rooted nethos ut lso is concerned ith hegoodas such. Inanilluminatingootnote,aracchi uccinctlytates hemain hesis f herbook:"Insum, hepoint s notwhetherractical eason prudence) r'theoretical'eason,wisdom,s priornAristotle'siscourse, ut thattheoreticalnowledge, isdom,s inherentlyractical,ndthepracticalis pervasivelyheoretical,itup by ntuitivensightndmoving or hesake of t" p.212).I havegiven nly hebarest ccount f heriches f his ext.Equallyilluminatingre herdiscussionsf ogos, appiness,he oul,friendship,justice, eleology,nd themeaning f the science ofbeing ua being.Whetherrnot one agreeswithherreadingsfspecific assages, nesensesthroughoutothhercare andmasteryftherelevantextsnotonlynAristotleut lsoinPlato). Baracchi's ristotles a thinker hois deeply grounded n the human condition,n the ethos thatcharacterizesur everydayives,but who resists nysuggestionfanthropocentrism.o befully uman, e strive or wisdom roundedinpractice hereweseektocomprehendhemysteryf he osmos ndourplacewithinhis osmos. Thisgenuinelyhought-provokingook isnot onlyforstudents f Aristotle ut foranyoneconcernedwithpractical philosophy,first philosophy, thics, and the humancondition.Richard .Bernstein,ewSchool or ocial Research.

BOWLER,Michael. Heideggerand Aristotle. hilosophy s Praxis.Continuumtudies n Continentalhilosophy.London:ContinuumInternationalublishing roup, 008. 171pp. Cloth, 65.00-BowlersituatesHeidegger'shoughts a response otheNeo-Kantianroblemof groundinghe sciences in the broad overviewhe gives of the

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SUMMARIESANDCOMMENTS 91 3philosophiesfRickert nd Natorp nd theattempts yHusserl ndDilthey o escape (in oppositeways)theNeo-Kantianrameworkycapturingife s it s actuallyxperienced. owler howshowspecificformulationsnd criticismsnHeidegger'sectures rom heFreiburgandMarburgeriods elate othe hemes fphilosophys anidealtaskinRickert,usserl's evelopmentf phenomenologyf he nvironingworld,Natorp'sHeidegger-likeormulationf science as a project(Vorwurf), nd Dilthey'sgroundingf the humansciences in anonnaturalisticelivingf the connectednessZusammenhang) f theworldnwhichmeanings historicallyonstituted. owler rgues hatHeideggerntendedisontologyo address his roblematicy howinghowthe nalyticfDaseinbetterccomplishesheNeo-Kantiandealofphilosophys valid ciencebecauseof tsnonobjectifyingnderstandingofourrelation o theworld. Bowler oncludes y eekingoshowhowHeidegger'snderstandingfphilosophys a nonobjectifyingask edHeideggero thinkhat hilosophyotonly xamines raxis as worldbut s itself kind fpraxisconscious f tsown, istinctelationshipolife. Bowler rgues hatHeidegger'snderstandingfphilosophyspraxis showsnotonly n unmistakableasis inAristotle's otion fphronesis ut lsohowHeidegger'sxistenzial ategoriesf ife owellbeyond ristotle'sategoricalccount fhuman eing.Of particularnterestn Bowler'soverview s the connection eoutlinesbetweenBaden and MarburgNeo-Kantianismn the wayRickert's otion f a scienceguidedby a Kantian racticaldeal ofperfect alidity as implicit arallels n Natorp'sunderstandingfscience s a project rtaskwith n objective oal. Also notables thewayBowler eemphasizeshewell-knownnfluencefHusserl's ogicalInvestigationson Heidegger n favor of consideringHusserl'sdevelopmentf notions fnonobjectivettitudesfvaluingndwillingin deas II, themes hich owler oints utmayhavebeendevelopedsearlyas 1908,butwhose early nfluences attestedn Heidegger'sreferenceso Husserl's 916 ecture n"Nature ndSpirit." owler lsotiesHeidegger's otion fmetaphysicso Dilthey's nderstandingfphilosophys a preeminent orldview hattriesto hypostatizeifeconceptually,hile hehistoricalonstitutionfmeaningn ife lwaysoverflowstsgrasp. Finally, owler'sunderstandingfphilosophyspraxistries ounifyheearlierHeidegger'snalysis f Daseinwith helaterHeidegger's ttempt o account for a sense of being (andphilosophy)eyondhe ccount fworldndthebeing fbeings.However,henotion fpraxisBowler evelops emainsmaddeninglyvague,when pecificitys needed boveall indisentanglingeidegger'srelationshipo Aristotleegardinghronesis. For example,Bowlersummarizeseidegger'srgumenthatAristotle'sefinitionf man aszoonechonogon pplies he bjectiveategoryf chon o human eingevenwhilenoting hat Aristotle's wn notionof hexis escapes theobjectifyingonceptualizationsfcategoricalssertions.Given hat hetermhexis s critical or omprehendingristotle'sccountof actionandphronesisn the Nicomachean thics,Bowler imply ppearsto



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914 BRANDONZIMMERMAN NDSTAFFcompress verymall art fHeidegger'sriticismsfAristotle ithoutsufficientnalysis fthe relevant extsfrom oth. Similar ifficultiesexistwith henotionsfpraxisor ife rexperiencehat owler sestounifyhewholebook: nwhat ense canall sixphilosopherse said tohave similar otions fpraxis except n an equivocalway? A strongindicationfthis quivocationsthewayRickertirtuallyisappearssthebookprogresses, hileEmilLask receives o more han woscantreferences. he secondchaptern Husserlmakes quitebroadclaimthat Heidegger'sanalysis of being-in-the-worldas significantlyinfluencedy Husserl, uttryingo distinguishho nfluenced homhere s extremelyifficultn bothphilologicalnd conceptual erms.Thebrief iscussion fHusserl'soncepts fretentionndprotentionnpage 38 confuses he objective ntentionalityf the ego with theintentionalityf inner ime consciousness. There are lastly omeproblemswith ndnotes, specially otes55-62forchapter (wherethey ppearoff yone) andagain nchapter ,wherenotes12 and 13obviously ake n ncorrectlyormattedeferenceo note .Despite hesecriticisms,hebook s definitelyorth eading or heHeideggercholarbecauseofthe breadth fground overed nd thefreshness f some of the nterpretation.owler lso attemptso gobeyond implynterpretingeidegger's orks oessaya reformulationof Heidegger's nderstandingf philosophy, omethingworthy frespectboth for hedifficultyftheundertakingnd the relatively)jargon-freexpressionhe brings o the topic. PierreMauboussin,Chicago,II.

BRAVER, ee. A Thing of this World:A Historyof Continental nti-Realism. Topics nHistoricalhilosophy. vanston,11.: orthwesternUniversitress.2007. xxi + 590 no. Cloth. 79.95: aoer. $34.95 Lee / I Braverwants o see a lotmore rguingaking lace nphilosophy. heproblemwith hilosophyoday, e claims, is not thatwe arearguingwith ach other, ut thatwe aren't,hatwe have notyetrisen o thepointofdisagreeing"p. 7). He is referringf course to the ack ofdialogue,ndhence hemutualmisunderstanding,etween he nalyticandcontinentalraditionsnphilosophy. raver laims, owever,hatthe wo amps hare t eastonesignificanthreadunninghroughheirworks:whatBraver alls "anti-realism."raver efinest as the deaoriginatingithKant hat themind ctively. . organizesxperiencenconstructingnowledge,ather han assivelyeflectingnindependentreality"p. 3). Bravermeans oachievehisgoalofpreparinghegroundfor meaningfulndprofitableialogue etween hetwotraditionsyreworking "commensurableocabulary"o as to make continentalthought ore eadilyntelligibleoanalytic hinkers;hegreaterart fthebook s dedicated otracinghehistoryf nti-realismncontinental


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Michael Bowler Review II