Heidegger and Black Notebooks

[Note: this is an English version of the paper published in German as "Epochale Polemik: Nach den 'Schwarzen Heften' mit und gegen Heidegger denken," which is on my Academia page.] Abstract: In the Black Notebooks, Martin Heidegger complains that Being and Time “has not brought me one great enemy.” This paper analyzes Heidegger treatment of πόλεμος (Kampf, struggle) in the Notebooks as the foundation for his conception of enmity during this period, in which he distinguishes an “enemy” (Feind) from an “antagonist” (Gegner) in his aspiration to usher in a new epoch in the history of Being, both in thought and in political life. The paper asks how we as readers should now treat Heidegger — as a genuinely philosophical antagonist or as a merely ideological enemy — given the revelations of the Notebooks and other writings about his adherence to Nazism. It concludes by arguing that Heidegger’s own ambiguous use of the term Feind should condition our own response to him: that we should still read him as a philosopher, but only if we take up the challenge of renewing the Platonism that he attempted to overthrow as the foundation of the Western tradition.

Informe sobre la presentación del último volumen de los Cahiers noirs en junio de 2018 en la sede del editor de la obra de Heidegger, Vittorio Klostermann, en Frankfurt. Este informe fue publicado en francés en Le Monde Diplomatique en septiembre de 2018.

According to some interpretations, the recent publication of Heidegger’s Black Notebooks seems to nail Heidegger to responsibility for the Third Reich and moreover for the Holocaust. On the one hand, we find some scholars that stress that the banality of Heidegger’s evil is due to his anti-Semitic convictions (Nancy); on the other, we find others that underline Heidegger’s contribution to the philosophy of Nazism (Faye, Wolin). Surfing between different conceptions of antisemitism, such as ontological or metaphysical (Trawny, Di Cesare), we are faced with a new image of Heidegger: not only the philosopher linked to National Socialism, but an antisemite that has contributed to the theoretical ground of evil. The aims of this paper are on three levels: firstly, I will show how the afore-mentioned interpretations regarding the Black Notebooks are grounded on a series of fallacies and misinterpretations that produce only «petitio principii» and «confirmation bias»; secondly, I will go back to the original ethics that since «Being and Time» remains the framework of ontological interrogation; thirdly, I will show how Heidegger’s relationship with Nazism played a very limited role in his reflection and is far removed from the entire history of Being (Seinsgeschichte).

KEYWORDS:

Heidegger, Black Notebooks, Holocaust, Ethics, Seinsgeschichte.

"Στο τεύχος Ιανουαρίου 2017 της Athens Review of Books δημοσιεύεται μια σημαντική συζήτηση με έναν από τους κορυφαίους αμερικανούς διανοούμενους, τον Ρίτσαρντ Γουόλιν (Richard Wolin). Στην Ελλάδα είναι γνωστός κυρίως από το έργο του «Η Γοητεία του Ανορθολογισμού». Η συζήτηση έγινε με τον Νικήτα Σινιόσογλου και αφορά το Διαφωτιστικό εγχείρημα· την ενδυνάμωση του διανοητικού τυχοδιωκτισμού και τον αποπροσανατολισμό μιας εκδοχής της Αριστεράς που απερίσκεπτα συμπίπτει με την άκρα Δεξιά· τη σχέση του Μάρτιν Χάιντεγκερ, του Καρλ Σμιτ και του Χανς Γκέοργκ Γκάνταμερ με το Τρίτο Ράιχ· την πρόσληψη του Νίτσε από τους γερμανούς και ιταλούς φασίστες· και τη διαφορά της φασιστικής από την πλατωνική πολιτεία. Η συζήτηση προχωρά σε συσχετισμούς των θεματικών αυτών με τις σύγχρονες πολιτικές εξελίξεις: την προϊούσα υποβάθμιση της μεσαίας τάξης, την άνοδο του εθνολαϊκισμού, την κρίση πολιτικής αντιπροσώπευσης και δημοκρατικής νομιμοποίησης. Ιδιαίτερη έμφαση δίνεται στο ερώτημα αν μπορεί η κλασική και νεώτερη πολιτική θεωρία να αντιταχθεί στην υβριδική σύγκλιση της μεταμοντέρνας Αριστεράς με την ανορθολογική Δεξιά.
(Πρόσφατα επανεκδόθηκαν τα έργα του Ρίτσαρντ Γουόλιν Heidegger’s Children [«Τα παιδιά του Χάιντεγκερ: Χάνα Άρεντ, Καρλ Λέβιτ, Χανς Γιόνας και Χέρμπερτ Μαρκούζε»] και το The Politics of Being [«Οι πολιτικές τού Είναι: Η πολιτική σκέψη του Μάρτιν Χάιντεγκερ»].)"

L'affaire Faye: Johannes Fritsche's bizarre Historical Destiny and National Socialism in Heidegger's Being and Time (1999) mistranslates every key term in Sein und Zeit §74 and distorts the entire book. Gaëtan Pégny's justification of Emmanuel Faye's mistranslations of Heidegger is beyond irresponsible. François Rastier's " Open Letter to Philosophy Today " lends uncritical support to Faye's dubious " scholarship. "

Στα "Μαύρα τετράδια" του Μάρτιν Χάιντεγκερ και στο "Glossarium" του Καρλ Σμιτ -τα πιο σκοτεινά ημερολόγια στην ιστορία της φιλοσοφίας-, οι δύο κορυφαίοι στοχαστές του Τρίτου Ράιχ καταδύονται στον ένδον εαυτό δίχως δίχτυ ασφαλείας. Καθώς καταφεύγουν στην εξομολογητική γραφή, οι ηττημένες φασιστικές ιδέες διαθλώνται με τρόπους προσωπικούς και γίνονται φιλοσοφική προφητεία για το επικείμενο τέλος της Δύσης. Ως άλλες κιβωτοί, τα δύο ημερολόγια μεταφέρουν το πιο δυσοίωνο μήνυμα: ο Χάιντεγκερ και ο Σμιτ θεωρούν πως θα δικαιωθούν στο απώτερο μέλλον· τότε που θα αποκαλυφθεί πως η κοινοβουλευτική δημοκρατία, ο αγγλοσαξονικής κοπής "κοινός νους" και η φιλελεύθερη οικονομία είναι ό,τι εκείνοι εξαρχής προφήτευαν: η εξαθλίωση της Δύσης.

Στο τρίτο μέρος του βιβλίου, μια flanerie στη μεγαλούπολη της Σιγκαπούρης γίνεται η αφορμή ώστε ο δοκιμιακός λόγος να πάρει τη μορφή ημερολογίου, καθώς ο συγγραφέας αναπάντεχα έρχεται πιο κοντά στην κριτική που ασκούν οι δύο στοχαστές στη νεωτερικότητα. Εδώ η γραφή διαγράφει μια τροχιά από έξω προς τα μέσα, από την παρατήρηση στην εμπειρία και από την κριτική στο βίωμα.

Οι "Μαύρες διαθήκες" συνεχίζουν την περιπλάνηση -η οποία ξεκίνησε με τον "Αλλόκοτο Ελληνισμό"- σε οριακές μορφές έκφρασης των ιδεών και προχωρούν περαιτέρω στην εξερεύνηση των παρυφών του δοκιμιακού λόγου. Συνάμα αναδεικνύουν μια σειρά από άβολα ερωτήματα: τι συμβαίνει στις ιδέες μετά τη φαινομενική τους συντριβή; Οφείλει ο στοχαστής να αναγνωρίζει προδιαγεγραμμένα όρια ή έχει την ελευθερία να κινείται ως τυχοδιώκτης της σκέψης; Είναι θεμιτό η πόλη και η ηθική να ορίζουν τις διαδρομές του στοχασμού και της φιλοσοφίας;

"Κάποτε το κακό δεν είναι διόλου κοινότοπο αλλά πολύ προσωπικό. Και μάλιστα τόσο, ώστε παρασιτεί σε ό,τι πιο ειλικρινές μπορεί να δώσει ένας άνθρωπος: την εξ

Abstract:

English
This paper explores Heidegger’s critique of the Judeo-Christian tradition developed in the Black Notebooks. This critique is not simply the result of Heidegger’s break from his original faith, but is rooted in his life-long engagement with the question of Being. The aim here is to dismantle and displace the primacy of historical Christianity (in terms of Christendom) in philosophy back to a Greek origin that it had “corrupted” and “altered”, there by opening metaphysics and the West [Abendland] to the oblivion of Being. In the framework of this understanding, the critique of Catholicism occupies a specific place and is stratified at three levels: historical, speculative and political. It is in this stratified context that this paper explores Heidegger’s already notorious remarks about the Jews. In doing so we see that the Judenfrage is not the main theme of the Black Notebooks, but belongs in the broader framework of Heidegger’s critique of the Christian West, and the “modernity” that unfolds in the historical holding sway of the oblivion of Being.

German:
Dieser Beitrag setzt sich zum Ziel, die Tragweite der Kritik an der jüdisch-christlichen Tradition, besonders am Christentum, in Heideggers Schwarzen Heften zu zeigen. Diese Kritik entsteht nicht nur aus der Ablösung von Heideggers ursprünglichen Glauben, sondern ist auch in der tiefen philosophischen Notwendigkeit verwurzelt, die Frage nach dem Sinn von Sein zu beantworten und den Vorrang der historischen Gestalt des Christentums in der Philosophie abzuschaffen. Denn dieser Vorrang verunstaltete das griechische Denken und ebnete dadurch den Weg für die abendländische Metaphysik und für die damit verbundene Seinsvergessenheit. Heideggers Ansicht nach ist die historisch-politische Entwicklung des Christentums eine der verheerenden Wirkungen der abendländischen Metaphysik und der Seinsvergessenheit. Die Entwicklungsgeschichte des Christentums ist deshalb die einleuchtendste Abgrenzung des metaphysischen Zeitraums. Unter diesen Voraussetzungen spielt die Kritik am Christentum eine bestimmte Rolle und entfaltet sich auf historischer, philosophischer und politischer Ebene. Mein hermeneutischer Vorschlag ist es, die Textstellen, an denen Heidegger sich auf die Juden Bezug nimmt, im begrifflichen Rahmen dieser Kritik zu verorten. Entfernt von denjenigen Auslegungen, die dem Denken Heideggers einen (seinsgeschichtlichen, metaphysischen oder geistlichen) Antisemitismus zusprechen, vertrete ich die These, dass die Judenfrage kein zentrales Thema der Schwarzen Hefte ist und sie innerhalb des weiteren Horizontes der Modernitätskritik betrachtet werden sollte, zu der Heideggers Erwähnung der Juden gehört.

In March 2014, Heidegger’s Überlegungen II–XV, a series of what he called his Black Notebooks, were published. These texts differ from Heidegger’s previously known writings in that they seem to speak more clearly and directly to the philosophical motivations and intentions in Heidegger’s thinking of the 1930s, and they demonstrate that Heidegger’s being-historical thinking during the Second World War was open to anti-Semitic ideas. The discussions, which have until now been behind the scenes in Heidegger research, have so far brought no agreement. The often unnecessary struggle for the prerogative of interpretation has finally highlighted a question again. Heidegger’s Black Notebooks force us, like no other manuscript from this philosopher, to ask: How do we read Heidegger?

A series of 4 public lectures at Hillsdale College by Dr. Francesca Brencio.

Lecture 1:
Heidegger’s Thinking
Pathways, not Works
Monday Oct. 9th, 7:30-8:45 PM

Lecture 2:
Heidegger’s Black Notebooks
Understanding His Critique of the Judeo-Christian Tradition
Tuesday Oct. 10th, 4:00-5:15 PM – Lane 124

Lecture 3:
What are Poets For?
Heidegger’s Poetical Thinking and the Overcoming of Metaphysics
Wednesday Oct. 11th, 4:00-5:15 PM – Lane 124

Lecture 4:
Heidegger and Psychoanalysis
“How will you manage without the unconscious?!”
Thursday Oct. 12th, 4:00-5:15 PM – Lane 124

Sponsored by the Program in Sociology & Social Thought, and the Departments of English, German, Philosophy & Religion, Psychology, and Rhetoric & Public Address.

Heideggers ""Überlegungen"", die erste Reihe der ""Schwarzen Hefte"", sind erschienen und haben ein aussergewöhnliches Medienecho verursacht. Mit dieser Veröffentlichung wächst Heideggers Schriften eine neue Dimension zu. Doch die philosophische und akademische Auseinandersetzung steht erst noch bevor. Oft wurde bemerkt, mit welcher grossen Anteilnahme j|dische Philosophinnen und Philosophen dem Werk Martin Heideggers begegneten. Gab und gibt es hier eine besondere Nähe? Die ""Überlegungen"" zeigen, dass in einer bestimmten Phase seines Denkens antisemitische Ideen die ""Geschichte des Seins"" belagern. Dabei scheinen die ""Protokolle der Weisen von Zion"", diese erste Quelle des modernen und postmodernen Antisemitismus, die Hauptrolle zu spielen. Peter Trawny geht in seiner Studie der Frage nach, welche Bedeutung dieser geistige Schiffbruch f|r das gesamte Heideggersche Denken hat. Die 3. Auflage ist erweitert um ein Kapitel ""Vernichtung und Selbstvernichtung"" zur apokalyptischen Reduktion der Geschichte in den ""Schwarzen Heften"". Ebenso enthalten ist ein Kapitel zum Verhältnis Heideggers zu Husserl, das f|r die 2. Auflage neu hinzugekommen war.

A prima vista sembra esserci una separazione netta tra linguaggio e violenza: colui che sa esprimersi non ha bisogno di ricorrere alla violenza. Del resto, c’è il detto che molti conoscono: la violenza è l’ultima risorsa degli incapaci.
È veramente così? Questo testo parte da una considerazione meno confortante: linguaggio e violenza non si escludono a vicenda. Anzi, si possono associare in un legame pericoloso e minaccioso. Un’alleanza sinistra che permette la diffusione di propaganda, ideologia ed estremismo. E diversi sono i casi in cui linguaggio e violenza si accompagnano in diversi ambiti della società contemporanea: la politica, la cultura e la filosofia.
Attraverso i lavori di Walter Benjamin, Martin Heidegger, George Steiner e Sigmund Freud, il libro presenta un’analisi impietosa del legame tra linguaggio e violenza nella filosofia contemporanea, forse senza ambire ad una soluzione, ma segnalandone i pericoli e le derive autoritarie.

Die Diskussionen um Heideggers »Schwarze Hefte«, jene vor Kurzem publizierten Aufzeichnungen aus dem Jahrzehnt zwischen 1931 und 1941, haben gezeigt, wie das extreme Denken Heideggers die öffentliche Verständnisfähigkeit an ihre Grenzen treibt. Woher stammt die Wildheit eines Denkens, das sich wissentlich jeder Normalisierung entzieht? Heidegger hat früh schon die gewöhnliche Auffassung der Wahrheit für eine in seinen Augen ursprünglichere aufgegeben: »Die Wahrheit ist in ihrem Wesen die Unwahrheit«, heißt es einmal. Es kann sein, dass sich hier ein Weg öffnet, den die Demokratie der Vernunft und ihre Institutionen nur für einen gefährlichen Irrtum halten können. Peter Trawny versucht in diesem aufregenden Essay, der zeitgleich auf Französisch und Englisch erscheint, zu zeigen, dass das Irren zur Freiheit des Denkens gehört.

This is the introduction to the volume 'Heidegger’s Black Notebooks and the Future of Theology', in which I give an overview of Heidegger's complex relationship to theology as well as of twentieth-century theology's complex relationship to the work of Heidegger.

Lo scopo del presente saggio è quello di offrire una panoramica dei temi che attraversano i Quaderni Neri di Heidegger, mostrando come il fondamento dei passaggi antisemiti non sia di natura ontologica o metafisica, caratteri che sembrano essere più la conseguenza dell’antisemitismo presente in quelle proposizioni che non la causa, dal momento che il carattere di storicità dell’essere si manifesta nella Seinsgeschichtlichkeit e nel suo dispiegamento; piuttosto il fondamento di quei passaggi potrebbe essere rintracciato nella spietata critica che Heidegger muove al cristianesimo ed alla matrice giudeo-cristiana dell’occidente, la quale è l’origine della società, della radicalizzazione della metafisica, dell’oblio dell��essere e solo infine dell’antisemitismo e della modernità tutta. La critica al cristianesimo, dunque, potrebbe inaugurare una dimensione teoretica che apre a questioni di maggior rilevanza rispetto alla relazione fra Seinsfrage e fede, saldandosi con la critica alla modernità.

The aim of my paper is to show an overview of all the themes that cross Heidegger’s Black Notebooks, underlining that the ground of anti-Semite sentences is not ontological and neither metaphysical, features that seems to be a consequence of anti-Semitism rather than the cause, due to the typical movement of Seinsgeschichtlichkeit in its development; the ground of these passages could be found into the violent critique that Heidegger’s elaborates toward Christendom and toward the Jewish-Christian origin of western society, of western metaphysics, of Being’s oblivion and, only at the very end, of anti-Semitism and modernity.  Heidegger’s critique to Christendom could initiate a new theoretical approach that opens to broader issues on the relationship between Seinsfrage and faith, that are strictly tied up with the critique to modernity.

Seitdem 2015 der erste Band der aus dem Nachlaß 1 herausgegebenen so-genannten Schwarzen Hefte Martin Heideggers publiziert wurde, hat der Herausgeber Peter Trawny unermüdlich weitere Bände fertiggestellt, 2 so daß mit diesem hier bereits der siebte Band jener Texte vorliegt, die für die Heidegger-Rezeption von außerordentlicher Bedeutung waren und sind. Denn es ist fraglich, ob die Heidegger-Diskussion ohne die Publikation die-ser Bände jemals wieder diese auch leidenschaftliche Intensität erlangt hät-te, die in den letzten Jahren zu beobachten war. Das hat sein Gutes: Hei-degger läßt jetzt erst recht nicht gleichgültig. Und weil die Schwarzen Hefte in vieler Hinsicht neue Akzente setzen, können die aktuellen Diskussionen auch nicht nur als Neuauflage der älteren Debatten etwa im Gefolge der Publikation von Victor Farías verstanden werden. 3 Und erst jetzt bzw. in na-1 Marbach-Bericht über eine neue Sichtung des Heidegger-Nachlasses / er-stattet von Klaus Held.-Frankfurt am Main : Klostermann, 2019.-72 S. : Ill., Faks. ; 22 cm.-(Heidegger-Forum ; 16).-ISBN 978-3-465-04403-1 : EUR 14.80 [#6593]. Rez.: IFB 19-3

This paper presents the hermeneutic interpretation of the first records of Martin Heidegger’s Black notebooks („Reflections II–VI”, October 1931). Heidegger’s “Esoteric initiative” is reconstructed and compared with Nietzsche’s critique of reading and writing and Plato’s parable of the cave. Other related texts of Heidegger are also analyzed: the lecture Vom Wesen der Wahrheit (1931/32 and 1933/34) and his correspondence with E. Blochmann and his brother Fritz, which cover the Heidegger’s period of 1930s – 1940s. Additionally, denial of the academic and scientific way of writing in Heidegger’s work is discussed. The methodological problem lies in the fact that there is no mindfulness of the esoteric gesture in Heidegger’s thinking, and, paradoxically, the whole research of Heidegger’s philosophy is separated from the openness of thinking that we can learn from Heidegger himself. Therefore, the critical awareness of Heidegger’s esoteric initiative provides an opportunity to acknowledge the philosophical (rational) dimension of this initiative, which is a consistent thread running through the great majority of Heidegger’s texts. The article examines the arrangement of Heidegger’s message and focusses on fundamental constants of the life and thinking experience that enable the knowledge of truth and staying in the truth. These constants include solitude (Einsamkeit), vivid correspondence between thinking and Being, expressed through the cordiality (Innigkeit) and continued insistence (Inständigkeit), silence (Schweigen), and concentration (Sammlung). Finally, the article explains Heidegger’s notion of truth in compliance with his esoteric initiative.

Presentación del volumen F. W. von Herrmann – F.
Alferi, Martn Heidegger. La verita’ sui Quaderni Neri,
Morcelliana Editrice, Brescia 2016
Universita‘ degli Studi di Pavia, Aula Magna. 12 de Mayo de 2016

in "Differenz. Differenz. Revista Internacional de studios heideggerianos y sus derivas contemporaneas", 2, 2016, pp. 254-258.
Universidad de Sevilla

ABSTRACT This paper aims to rebuild the relationship between the Seinsfrage and Catholicism in Heidegger’s meditation and to shed light on his critique to Christianity (in terms of Christentum) as a philosophical necessity rooted in his broader critique of modernity in the context of the Black Notebooks. In order to reach these purposes, this contribution will be articulated in two parts: in the first one, I will rebuild Heidegger’s relationship to Catholicism and in the second one, I will focus on Black Notebooks as important tools in understanding Heidegger’s critique to Catholicism, a critique that is built on three levels: historical, speculative and political. The essay will show how the Schwarze Hefte illuminate Heidegger’s attempts to answer the question of Being in an incessant tension with the coeval seven major treatises on the Seinsgeschichte, in which Christianity, metaphysics and nihilism are inextricably tied together.

Este texto oferece uma reflexão sobre a concepção da questão da técnica ou da maquinação na década de 1930 por Heidegger as mudanças por quais a colocação desta questão passou no período da Segunda Guerra Mundial. Argumentamos que a questão da técnica, inicialmente, ainda não significa a espécie de mobilização do espírito, da destinação historial de um povo, como nós, retroativamente, interpretamos a questão, o que revelaria que sua dignidade estaria muito além da mera crítica aos objetos da tecnologia. Ainda que a maquinação esteja desde o início vinculada aos mecanismos da subjetividade moderna e à necessidade de sua superação, Heidegger, nessa época, antecipa a possibilidade de um outro começo para o pensamento que não apenas exige, mas que também se julga capaz de produzir uma nova possibilidade para o homem. Os "Cadernos Negros" dão o testemunho de uma tensão no pensamento de Heidegger que se estende por longos anos, e não podemos pretender encontrar um ponto de inflexão cronologicamente determinado para as mudanças que encontramos na expressão de suas questões. Acreditamos, porém, que a questão da técnica só emerge de fato na maneira como a conhecemos – e que pudesse efetivamente permitir a apreensão crítica do nacional-socialismo – mais tarde, ao menos não antes dos últimos anos da guerra, e sua formulação dependerá não somente da mera revisão da abrangência da técnica moderna, que passaria a incluir a experiência do nacional-socialismo, o qual antes Heidegger acreditava apontar a direção do passo para além do esquecimento da verdade do Ser. Essa transformação dependerá de um autêntico abandono da crença na possibilidade mesma de que um projeto filosófico possa vir a decidir sobre seu próprio legado e preparar, antecipar ou pressentir um novo começo. As correntes subterrâneas mais ou menos explícitas que movem essas transformações, e vem a tornar a questão da técnica a mais proeminente para Heidegger após a guerra, são eminentemente complexas, e exigem a proposição de uma interpretação rigorosa do estado do projeto de Ser e Tempo. Momentaneamente propomos, para sustentar nossa tese, observar a reflexão melancólica que Heidegger compõe nos "Feldweg-Gespräche", particularmente o último deles, intitulado "Conversa noturna em um campo de prisioneiros de guerra na Rússia entre um mais jovem e um mais velho".

In 2014, the first three volumes of Heidegger’s Black Notebooks—the personal and philosophical notebooks that he kept during the war years—were published in Germany. These notebooks provide the first textual evidence of anti-Semitism in Heidegger’s philosophy, not simply in passing remarks, but as incorporated into his philosophical and political thinking itself. In Heidegger and the Myth of a Jewish World Conspiracy, Peter Trawny, the editor of those notebooks, offers the first evaluation of Heidegger’s philosophical project in light of the Black Notebooks.
         
While Heidegger’s affiliation with National Socialism is well known, the anti-Semitic dimension of that engagement could not be fully told until now. Trawny traces Heidegger’s development of a grand “narrative” of the history of being, the “being-historical thinking” at the center of Heidegger’s work after Being and Time. Two of the protagonists of this narrative are well known to Heidegger’s readers: the Greeks and the Germans. The world-historical antagonist of this narrative, however, has remained hitherto undisclosed: the Jews, or, more specifically, “world Judaism.” As Trawny shows, world Judaism emerges as a racialized, destructive, and technological threat to the German homeland, indeed, to any homeland whatsoever. Trawny pinpoints recurrent, anti-Semitic themes in the Notebooks, including Heidegger’s adoption of crude cultural stereotypes, his assigning of racial reasons to philosophical decisions (even undermining his Jewish teacher, Edmund Husserl), his endorsement of a Jewish “world conspiracy,” and his first published remarks on the extermination camps and gas chambers (under the troubling aegis of a Jewish “self-annihilation”). Trawny concludes with a thoughtful meditation on how Heidegger’s achievements might still be valued despite these horrifying facets. Unflinching and systematic, this is one of the most important assessments of one of the most important philosophers in our history.

Conference at the at the Freiburg Institute for Advanced Studies.

January 14th -16th 2016

Speakers: Gérard Bensussan, Ryan Coyne, David Espinet, Maurizio Ferraris,  Günter Figal, Markus Gabriel, Sacha Golob, Tobias Keiling, Dennis McManus, Nikola Mirkovic, Morten Thaning, Dieter Thomä and Hans Ruin.

Organised by Günter Figal, David Espinet, Tobias Keiling, and Nikola Mirkovic

On June 21 of this year the journalist Lorenz Jäger and the editor of Heidegger's Black Note Books presented the latest volume (vol. 98) on the publisher Klostermann's premises in Frankfurt. This is a report of this presentation of which the French newspaper Le Monde Diplomatique  will soon publish extracts

Through Professor Arun Iyer’s parallel reading of Plato’s Theatetus, Heidegger’s 1931/32 lectures On the Essence of Truth, and the early modern political wrings of Raja Rammohan Roy, Heidegger’s 'novel way of relating to the historical past' can be described according to a logical movement through three layers of the significance of the un-happened : 1) that which did not happen; 2) that which still yet happens through the enduring presence of the un-happened ; and 3) that through which this enduring happening of the un-happened presents itself.