Reiner Schürmann

Reiner Schürmann
Born	(1941-02-04)February 4, 1941 Amsterdam, Netherlands
Died	August 20, 1993(1993-08-20) (aged 52) New York City, US
Partner	Louis Comtois
Academic background
Alma mater	University of Sorbonne
Academic work
Discipline	philosophy
Institutions	The New School for Social Research
Notable works	Heidegger on Being and Acting: From Principles to Anarchy

Reiner Schürmann (February 4, 1941 – August 20, 1993) was a German philosopher. He was a professor of philosophy at The New School for Social Research in New York City from 1975 to his death. He wrote all his major published work in French. Deeply influenced by Heidegger, Meister Eckhart, and contemporary continental thought, Schürmann developed a radical critique of metaphysical and political first principles (what he called "anarchy of being and action") culminating in analyses of broken hegemonies, singularity, and non-foundational praxis. In recent years, his work have been increasingly translated and discussed in different countries like Italy or Mexico; in 2025, an anthology remarked that academic interest in Schürmann's philosophical work had grown notably.

Biography

Born in Amsterdam in 1941 of German parents, Reiner Schürmann studied philosophy and theology with the Dominicans of Le Centre d'études du Saulchoir near Paris, between 1962 and 1969, and received a Doctorate in Philosophy from the University of Sorbonne in Paris in 1981.

It was as a Dominican priest that he first came to the United States in 1971, teaching first at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., then at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh. In 1975, he left the priesthood and began teaching philosophy at the New School for Social Research as a protégé of Hannah Arendt and Hans Jonas.

He died of complications associated with HIV/AIDS on August 20, 1993, in New York City, three years after his partner, Québécois painter Louis Comtois.