Conclusions: Criticisms and Connections

Abstract

The fifth and final chapter of this book’s exposition covers critiques of Bollnow’s philosophy, particularly those found in critical theorist Theodore Adorno’s Jargon of Authenticity. Although Adorno’s principle polemical target in this book is the existentialist philosophy of Martin Heidegger (as well as that of Karl Jaspers), Adorno’s harshest invective is reserved for Bollnow, Heidegger’s ambivalent understudy. In addition to covering Adorno’s critique, this chapter also discusses and compares the circumstances of Adorno, Heidegger, and Bollnow during and after the war—circumstances that forced the Jewish Adorno to flee for his life and that in hindsight are much more damaging to Heidegger than to Bollnow. This chapter also concludes by arguing that despite critique concerning Bollnow’s life and work, key aspects of Bollnow’s thought are arguably more, rather than less, relevant in our contemporary situation. Bollnow’s unflinching pedagogical engagement with existentialist themes of radical uncertainty and alienation has particular value in times that are again wracked by economic and political—and now also environmental—uncertainties and insecurities.