Illuminating the Meaning of 'being' in the later Heidegger Through Aspects of the Theologies of Pseudo-Dionysius and Meister Eckhart

Abstract

The dissertation involves an attempt to illuminate the meaning of being in Heidegger through the dialectic of negation, the complex and subtle relation between affirmation and negation which is present in the 'negative' theologies of Pseudo-Dionysius and Meister Eckhart. Although the focus is on the later Heidegger, the early chapters work to establish a sold grounding in both the question about the meaning of being, and what intelligibility concerning being is present in the early Heidegger. "The Onto-Theo-Logical Constitution of Metaphysics" has been selected as the primary text to represent the later Heidegger. We employ Dionysius and Eckhart first to clarify Heidegger's critique of ontotheology and then finally in an attempt to illuminate Heidegger' project of thinking being as "the difference as such" (differenz as solche).