Justin Laleh
I am currently PhD student in the Department of Philosophy
at the University of Warwick. I commenced my research in the academic year 2007/8 under the supervision of Miguel de Beistegui.
Research
The title of my thesis is Life: Between Nietzsche and Heidegger. In general I am concerned with the issue of intellectual probity and the manner in which it has been both conducted and taken up as a problem by thinkers within the Post-Kantian German tradition. This concern has resulted in a more specific interest in the manner in which both Nietzsche and Heidegger construe history and its tasks. It is the central contention of my thesis that Heidegger's varying accounts of intellectual probity continually centre around the achievement of a particular type of historicality - be it being-historical-thinking or its earlier configurations. I take seriously Heidegger's claim that Nietzsche is the last Metaphysician, thus constituting both an end of metaphysics and a potential transition to post-metaphysical thinking. As such, I consider the nature of Nietzsche's presence within the Heideggerian corpus not just as an intellectual figure, but as the "place and source" of "a confrotation proper" (eine eigentliche Auseinandersetzung) with the contemporary, and indeed the whole of history. This dynamic has heretofore been hinted at, but never satisfactorily dealt with. Following this consideration, my research initially takes the form of an account of the presence of Nietzsche within the Fundamental Concepts of Metaphysics, attempting to set this controversial text into the context that Heidegger seeks to provide for it within its opening sections - namely, Nietzsce's thinking on Life, and the Apollonian and Dionysian. Using an exegetical account of Fundamental Concepts of Metaphysics, my project will seek to engage with Heidegger's later readings of Nietzsche in order to accomplish tasks both within the history of philosophy, and further, within current debates surrounding Life and Being as competing horizons for philosophy.
About Me - Academic
I attended the undergraduate programme in Philosophy and Politics at the University of Warwick between 2000 and 2003. Subsequently I undertook the Master's Degree course in Continental Philosophy in 2003/4. Having worked mainly within the German tradition, the encounter between Heidegger and Nietzsche became the main focus of my study and was, accordingly, the subject of my dissertation - Nietzsche as End and Transition: Towards Heidegger's Encounter with Nietzsche
. Following this course I worked for a legal publishing house and then in the marketing department for Linklaters, a world-leading solicitors, for a combined total of 3 years. I was eventually drawn back to the academic world, undertaking a PhD in the Continental Stream at the University of Warwick.
I recently conducted a one year academic exchange at the Univeristy of Freiburg under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Figal.
I am on the editorial board of Pli, The Warwick Journal of Philosophy.
Teaching
I have taught Aesthetics I and Introduction to Ancient Philosoph. Alongside this teaching I have also delivered a replacement lectures for 20th Century Continental Philosophy in 2008/9 on Being and Time.
Conference Papers
Heidegger's Interpretation of Nietzsche's Naturalism (at 'Nietzsche and Naturalism: a Conference with Professor Richard Schacht', Cardiff University, 20th-21st September 2010).
On the Overcoming of Biologism: Heidegger's account of "Der Grosse Stil" in Band 87 (at '20th Century Heidegger', University College Dublin, 10-11th September 2010).
Reviews
'A Review of Recent Works on Heidegger's Reading of Nietzsche' in The Journal of Nietzsche Studies (Volume 43 forthcoming)
ABOUT ME - PERSONAL
I am a keen cyclist and enjoy walking whenever I have the oppurtunity. I have a particular interest in combat sports, most specifically submission grappling and MMA: although I remain largely an admirer from afar, I was the President of the Warwick Submission Wrestling Sports Society between 2002 and 2004 (this society has since become defunct...).
My more cerebral non-academic pursuits centre around a love for the cultural products of the late '60s/early 70's, with progressive rock and Yukio Mishima's The Sea of Fertility figuring amongst my highlights.
