Solipsism and Nondualism

" On another note, David, since you are pondering these things and seem to have an interest in Philosophy, have you read much of the later Heidegger? There is an interesting trend of practitioners of Dzogchen, Zen and Mahamudra who are also philosophy professors and who attempt to use some post-Heideggarian approaches to thinking and language to articulate Rigpa, non-duality, emptiness, etc."

very interesting... can you recommend me a book or site where I can dive in and grasp the essence of later Heidegger?

btw -- have you guys had any reluctance toward Heidegger because of his political ties? Or do you consider his philosophy and politics to be completely separate? I find it so strange that a Nazi could produce such beautiful thought and yet remain so hateful and power-lusting

David, which TSK book do you recommend I start with? There are so many... and I don't know if there is a specific order they should be read in

"David, which TSK book do you recommend I start with? There are so many... and I don't know if there is a specific order they should be read in"

Hi Michael,

I think the best one to start with is the first one - "Time, Space, and Knowledge: A New Vision of Reality" - it has practical exercises in it, and seems less heady.

In regards to Heidegger's political ties, I tend to view it as social expediency on his part - he was interested in keeping his University chair and so forth. While German nationalism is certainly evident in his work, I haven't been able to find much eugenics or racism - which is not to say that he didn't endorse some of those ideas either publicly or privately, or to excuse the affiliations in any way.

I guess my main stance is that an author's work should be judged on the merit of the ideas, not on the author's personal life. Discrediting Heidegger's ideas on the basis of Nazi affiliation is too much like an ad hominem argument - he simply has too many profound and thought provoking ideas to throw them out on that basis.

Yes, definitely on the Nazi thing. Heidegger-Between Good and Evil is an interesting biography for those interested. The consensus of his friends and close associates was that he simply didn't exercize self-reflection. He was completely incapable of introversion, and so never bothered to check his motives. Basically a selfish guy. His interest in Nazism was genuine to a point because their early propaganda involved a lot of ecological thinking and a sort of ecological critique of Soviet and American technocentrism and other "nice" ideas, for example. Of course he came to realize they were full of it.
A good introduction to his later work would be one of the essay collections. "Poetry, Language, Thought" is profound and beautiful, IMO. Particularly the essay on the "Origin of the Work of Art" will give you a sense of the flavor of his later thought. Also "Basic Writings" is a good collection which has some stuff that deals with the deconstruction of the metaphysical tradition, which is basically his project to free language and thinking from the inherited dualistic patterns of the tradition. "The Question Concerning Technology and other essays" is a must read, particularly the title peice. Understanding what he's getting at in his thinking about technology will totally transform your sense of where we are as a civilization and what the issues of the day are.
The Derrida book sounds interesting. When i was reading "Of Grammatology" I couldn't help but think that his concepts of writing and "differance" are quite similar to emptiness, actually, and the method of deconstruction as he explains it there reminded me of a modern sort of Madhyamika, for sure.
---jake