Towards a Polemical Ethics

Fried addresses his and our own historical situatedness, in the 21st century, at certain moments in the book--for example, when alluding to the resurgent problem of fascism in our times, or to the Black Lives Matter movement and social unrest after the killing of George Floyd. In these ways the book brings together philosophical work on the meta-ethical significance of historical situatedness while remaining attuned to its own historical moment--an admirable achievement, and one worth looking to as a model for philosophical writing.

Gregory Fried's Toward a Polemical Ethics is an original piece of writing marked by two distinctive abilities. It shows the scholarly depth of a specialist attuned to the writings of Plato and Heidegger, but it also reflects the creative talents of a philosopher who directs his energies at grappling with problems that define our contemporary situation. This is a book that will require all of us to rethink our traditional understanding of Heidegger's writings on Plato.

In Towards a Polemical Ethics: Between Heidegger and Plato, Gregory Fried accomplishes exactly what the title declares: he prepares us for the development of what, in his revised sense of the term, will be a polemical ethics by developing a space between Plato and Heidegger that is at once well-founded and richly speculative. At the same time, the book engages the reader in a similarly rich and friendlypolemos.