Bücher von Runhild Roeder

Bildung (self-formation) is neglected in our era of modernity. Technique and the forces of production preoccupy the individual, robbing one of essential freedom to develop oneself and express one¿s uniqueness. Runhild Roeder recommends we assert our freedom, as artists do, to allow the ontological ground of truth to emerge in philosophy and every day life. She emphasizes that only in freedom can we demonstrate originality and consideration for each other. ¿Truth is an event.¿ (Gadamer) Between individuals, the social yarn can be rewoven in hermeneutic dialogue to counteract disenchantment that our humanity is suffering from due to a blind move towards technology. It is the irrepressible human spirit, at once universal and particular, that fulfils the task of Bildung in each context we find ourselves in.

Roeder is fascinated with the unpredictability of Dasein; with Heidegger philosophizing is in a sense living dangerously, without reliance on theological anchorage or moral principles. She spontaneously quotes and interprets much in this book from works of Heidegger, Kant, Nishida, Gadamer, Tagore, and other provocative thinkers. One sails through this book flying in tune with the author¿s probing of the moment at hand. One ought to take this book up to interpret it oneself. It is written in a style that allows a sincere but playful dialogue with oneself and with others. Are we not nostalgic for such a Spirit to locate its own essence, as Heidegger and Derrida attempted? Is this not what we are all searching for when we claim truths that touch us profoundly? For they uncover shadows in peeling off whatever we might be afraid of, only to leave us naked and vulnerable in the openness of Being as das Seiende.