David Nichols

Martin Heidegger's 1942 lecture course, Hölderlins Hymne » Der Ister «, facilitated a confrontation with Greek tragedy by way of Friedrich Hölderlin. Heidegger draws upon Sophocles' theme of autochthony in order to "ground"" western philosophy in the Greeks. He also roots human identity in poetry as a primordial experience of language. I challenge whether Heidegger's encounter with Greek tragedy, centered upon the poet, provides an adequate alternative to the dislocation of modern subjectivity."