Phenomenological Reviews

Series | Book | Chapter

148571

Dark hearts

Heidegger, Richardson, and evil

John D Caputo

pp. 267-275

Abstract

If, as Heidegger says, thinking is thanking, then one can offer a work of thought as a bit of gratitude. Derrida, on the other hand, repeats the warning of the circle of the gift according to which, in all gift-giving, something is always returned to the giver. The giver always gets a pay back, a return on the investment, if only (or especially) in the most oblique, the most indirect form, of gratitude. Therefore, the purest gift-gifting demands ingratitude, which does not pay the giver back and therefore pay off and nullify his generosity.

Publication details

Published in:

Babich Babette (1995) From phenomenology to thought, errancy, and desire: Essays in honor of William J. Richardson, S.J.. Dordrecht, Springer.

Pages: 267-275

DOI: 10.1007/978-94-017-1624-6_18

Full citation:

Caputo John D (1995) „Dark hearts: Heidegger, Richardson, and evil“, In: B. Babich (ed.), From phenomenology to thought, errancy, and desire, Dordrecht, Springer, 267–275.