Martin Heidegger: Other Way - A New Book by Irakli Batiashvili
TBILISI - Philosopher and politician Irakli Batiashvili’s new book- Martin Heidegger: Other Way was presented at Marriott Tbilisi Hotel this Saturday.
Dedicated to the 20th century German philosopher Martin Heidegger, Batiashvili’s new book is an attempt to analyse the legacy of the great thinker, intertwined with beletristical sections in which the author expresses his own personal associations and thoughts on some of the most important challenges the contemporary world faces today.
At the same time, in his book Batiashvili tries to revive Heidegger, who has been critisized for his antisemitist and fascist views. Batiashvili, as claimed by the many reviewers of the book, brings the reader to the depths of the great thinker’s realm where questions are raised as to the essence of an individual’s existence, and how ways of self-discovery and the road that a person undegoes in serach of and approaching god, are regarded as central.
“If we want to play an integral part in the cultural, socio-political or philosophical processes going on in the West, we need more books like this one. It’ll be our visit-card,” said Rostom Chkheidze, writer, essayist, and literary critic at the book launch, while Zaza Shatirishvili, philosopher, noted that not many authors abroad would dare to write a book as Irakli Batashvili did, referring again to the controversy of Heidegger’s persona. “Irakli is a true philosopher who can see the world in its entirety- and that is very important," Shatirishvili said.
“This book is a dialogue. It’s not just the discussion between a very educated man, an intellectual, and one of the greatest philosopher’s [Martin Heidegger]; it’s a discussion between two thinkers, two philosophers, and that is exactly what makes this work so interesting," said Valerian Ramishvili, philosopher, one of the reviewers of the book.
Praise for the work was continued by Valeri Asatiani, Professor of Classical Philology, who noted that “Irakli Batiashvili gifted us with a philosophical essay marked with an undeniable aesthetistm, with original thinking vividly visible.”
Batiashvili himself recalls the period of working on the book as one of the most important and interesting in his life, saying that for him personally, Martin Heidegger’s philosophy is the phylosophy of the future.
By Nino Gugunishvili