The Thread of Imagination in Heidegger’s Retrieval of Kant: The Play of a Double Hermeneutic

Abstract

Throughout his career, Heidegger undertakes a dialogue with Kant. That dialogue casts new light on Kant’s transcendental philosophy and also serves as a leaping-off point to radicalize Heidegger’s fundamental ontology. The chapter argues that Heidegger’s interpretation of Kant plays out on two fronts. First, Heidegger dismantles extraneous aspects of Kant’s philosophy that remain mired in rationalism; secondly, Heidegger retrieves those elements of transcendental philosophy that align with his attempt to re-ask the question of being and to ground that inquiry upon temporality. Ultimately, my argument shows that the key to Heidegger’s interpretation lies in a thread interwoven into his writings, namely the imagination.