Thesis (Ph. L.)--Catholic University of America, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 83-85).

Thesis (doctoral)--Universität zu Köln, 1982. / Series statement supplied from cover p. [1] and spine. Includes bibliographical references (p. 278-286).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago, Divinity School, June 2003. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the Internet.

The author's Thesis (Ph. D.)--Philipps-Universität Marburg 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (p. [531]-558) and index.

Thesis (M.A.--Theology)--Catholic University of America, 1986. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 151-154).

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Duquesne University, 2009. / Title from document title page. Abstract included in electronic submission form. Includes bibliographical references (p. 284-294) and index.

This thesis provides an original reading of Heidegger's 1929-30 lecture course The Fundamental Concepts of Metaphysics. Currently, the notoriety of FCM stems from controversy surrounding its description of human beings as 'world-forming,' and of animals as comparatively 'poor in world.' These propositions are interpreted within the secondary literature as a reinforcement of ontotheological and humanistic metaphysics. However, this standard interpretation misses the more complex and subtle significance of this material in the broader context of the lectures. I argue that Heidegger's 'comparative examination' forms part of a wider metaphysical project of interrogating a contemporary 'delusion,' a metaphysical division drawn between 'life' and 'spirit' engendered by an 'anthropological' worldview which pictures man as a composite of those two elements. Heidegger traces the manifestations of this delusion in Kulturphilosophie and biology, before attempting to recover a more genuinely metaphysical attitude, one founded not on anthropocentric 'worldviews' but on a direct, courageous 'confrontation' with ourselves. Heidegger argues that this confrontation must take its orientation from Greek thought, in which man is interpreted as that part of physis that apprehends physis as a whole. For Heidegger, this notion of the human as a kind of 'meta-physical' being enables us to grasp the coextensive essence of the human and of metaphysics. I argue that Heidegger's position can be extended and enriched if we consider it in conjunction with what he presents in the lecture course as one of its great adversaries; for the German tradition of philosophical anthropology, rather than being a straightforward articulation of the life-spirit divide that Heidegger wishes to eschew, actually harmonises with and deepens Heidegger's reflections in FCM concerning the nature of the human as a meta-physical being.

This thesis is first and foremost the result of my grappling with the works of Meister Eckhart. Accordingly, I intend to present here my reading of Eckhart's thought. This reading, my struggle to interpret the Meister, was, from the beginning, however, motivated by the aim to join a certain conversation. This conversation is what I have come to know as 'Christian philosophy'. I am new to the circles of those who admit to be participating in this scandalous project, yet already I have become quite aware of the controversy pervading this notion. It comes to the fore not only in the critical voices from the 'outside', questioning its meaning, relevance and legitimacy, but also in a lack of 'internal' consensus concerning its entailments. This is not necessarily a point of criticism on my part. In fact, I am much a proponent of conversations or projects that have an openness to them and lack clear cut deliminations. It does, however, make a brief apologia in preparation to this thesis necessary. I have no ambition whatsoever to state here what Christian philosophy is or should be. God forbid! I merely deem it important to place my project in context, and for that purpose I intend here to point out to the reader the direction I am facing. Thus, what needs to be clarified at the outset of my argument is that particular understanding of Christian philosophy this thesis intends to engage. The question here is, where and how to locate the conversation this thesis hopes to join. [from Prologue, p. 3]

This work focuses on the home/house as the most important locus of human dwelling, the place where through the ages humans were born and died. It is the innermost background of humans and their link to what is back of the ground. That home/house, so familiar a reality, faces a threat of becoming what is at the same time most remote. It is at the threshold of the home/house that humans and the world encounter one another. Countless images, symbols, experiences and conceptions of the home/house which we can trace through the ages mirror the immense effort and extent of human coming to be at home. One of the chief aims of this study is to use various aspects of this being-at-home to call attention to the magnitude of the loss which, according to Heidegger, homelessness as a global fate inflicted on humans. In this study we have set out from certain "foundations", presented in the chapters devoted to Greek, Jewish and Christian ideas and images of the home/house.

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