Rüdiger Safranski's book is difficult to review: it is hard to write a critical evaluation of a masterpiece. Already a bestseller in Germany, this book is the most complete and balanced intellectual biography of Martin Heidegger, perhaps this doleful century's most controversial philosopher. Gone are the over-heated polemics of the Heidegger bashers. Gone too are his fans' convenient omissions and facile apologies. Instead—in much-needed clear, elegant, and short sentences—Safranski presents the achievements and liabilities of Heidegger as a man and a (...) thinker. This may not be the last word on this seemingly inexhaustible subject. All worthwhile future works on the…. (shrink)

In light of John Fekete's account of the effects of radical feminism, it is difficult to characterize what is going on in Canada and, to a lesser extent, the US. Perhaps a new hybrid — petty totalitarianism — is needed to comprehend this phenomenon. It is commonplace to refer to Italian Renaissance principalities as petty absolutisms. The princes were all-powerful within their small domains. Similarly, in its elitism, ideological dogmatism, intolerance, and punitiveness, Canadian radical feminism exhibits totalitarian characteristics. But this (...) totalitarianism remains petty because of its limited range of available punitive sanctions and its narrow institutional scope. Fekete has written an important book, perhaps an indispensable one, but what he writes about is rather unpleasant. (shrink)

The publication of Timothy J. Lukes's The Flight into Inwardness and C. Fred Alford's Science and the Revenge of Nature marks a new stage in the development of Marcuse studies. In the early eighties, four books attempted to explicate Marcuse's entire life's work. To the extent that this formidable task was placed in a larger intellectual context, Marcuse's work was understood as part of the attempt to establish philosophical foundations for contemporary critical Marxism, particularly the critical Marxism of the Frankfurt (...) School. Lukes and Alford adopt a new approach. Each author examines the genesis and implications of a single theme from Marcuse's work: Lukes looks at art and Alford at science. (shrink)