Abstract

Frederick Olafson makes the case sensibly and eloquently that, despite Heidegger’s failed personal and political judgments, “the profoundly original constellation of ideas he introduced in Being and Time can make an important contribution to our understanding of the whole ethical side of our lives”. In particular, Olafson argues that Heidegger’s phenomenological analysis of Mitsein provides the framework for thinking about the “ground” of ontic ethical theory, rules, and prescriptions.