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Lecture: Re-thinking Difference
Who
Dan Dahlstrom, professor of philosophy, Boston University
What
Part of the Spring 2012 Dean’s Lecture and Concert Series
Title
Re-thinking Difference
Where
Great Hall, Peterson Student Center, St. John’s College
When
Friday, April 27, 8:00 p.m.
Details
This event is free and open to the public.
According to Heidegger, the difference between being and beings is the most essential difference of all. Not surprisingly it is a constant in his thinking from beginning to end. Yet in the course of his work, he re-thinks this difference fundamentally, recognizing its at times ambivalent sense and even insisting on the need to abandon various versions of it. Re-thinking that difference plays a crucial role in his clarification of what he dubs the basic, post-metaphysical question (Grundfrage) and in his call for a different sort of thinking, beginning in the mid-1930s. Crucial to this development is a sustained, critical reading of Nietzsche's work. This lecture will examine the significance of the way Heidegger re-thinks the difference between being and beings, in the light of his controversial interpretation of Nietzsche's "metaphysics."
Before arriving at Boston University, Dan Dahlstrom taught at Santa Clara University, Catholic University of America, and Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (Belgium). He has been awarded a number of grants to research, among other topics, medieval logic, German thought and letters, eighteenth century German aesthetics, and Heidegger’s later thought. Named Boston University’s first John R. Silber Professor in 2011, Dahlstrom has published widely, having written more than 90 articles and edited 16 collections.