In Time and Death Carol White articulates a vision of Martin Heidegger's work which grows out of a new understanding of what he was trying to address in his discussion of death. Acknowledging that the discussion of this issue in Heidegger's major work Being and Time is often far from clear, White presents a new interpretation of Heidegger which short-circuits many of the traditional criticisms. White claims that we are all in a better position to understand Heidegger's insights after fifty years because they have now become a part of the conventional wisdom of common opinion. His view shows up in accounts of knowledge in the physical sciences, in the assumptions of the social sciences, in art and film, even in popular culture in general, but does so in ways ignorant of their origins. Now that these insights have filtered down into the culture at large, we can make Heidegger intelligible in a way that perhaps he himself could not. White presents the best possible case for Heidegger, making him more intelligible to those people with a long acquaintance with his work, those with a long aversion to it and in particular to those just starting to pursue an interest in it. White places the problems with which Heidegger is dealing in the context of issues in contemporary Anglo-American philosophy, in order to better locate him for the more mainstream audience. The language and approach of the book is able to accommodate the novice but also offers much food for thought for the Heidegger scholar.
'Carol J. White's work has a natural cadence and a clarity of expression which makes the philosophical questions being dealt with come alive and appear seductively clear. Such is the richness of the intellectual world she weaves that insights abound yet come in and out of focus as the philosophical terrain shifts... It open us culture and processes of social ordering to a deepened understanding of the interplay between action and presence.' Journal of Futures Studies 'Carol White's Time and Death: Heidegger's Analysis of Finitude is a book rich in thought, dense in original interpretive claims, and overflowing with supporting textual references.' Inquiry 'Carol White's book probably stands as the most scholarly publication on Heidegger's analysis of death that is currently available. Including an indispensable foreword to the book, the noted Heidegger scholar, Hubert Dreyfus, identifies no less than eight positions on death and dying that various philosophers read into the relevant sections of Being and Time, concisely illuminating the arguments and counter-arguments for each stance. This provides us with a context for this publication, but it is also used as a testament to the towering contribution made by White, since Dreyfus argues that her position is the most compelling interpretation of Heidegger's account on death, based not just on the philosopher's earlier work, but consistent with writings produced throughout his life... White uncompromisingly explores the ideas behind the terms (or jargon, if you prefer), leaving the reader with a significantly richer and more coherent understanding of Heidegger's overall project, and, I might add, an appreciation of the crucial importance of finitude in the corpus of his thought as a whole.' Existential Analysis
