Heraclitus Seminar

Martin Heidegger, Eugen Fink

Northwestern University Press, 1993 - Philosophy - 169 pages

In 1966-1967 Martin Heidegger and Eugen Fink conducted an extraordinary seminar on the fragments of Heraclitus. Heraclitus Seminar records those conversations, documenting the imaginative and experimental character of the multiplicity of interpretations offered and providing an invaluable portrait of Heidegger involved in active discussion and explication.



Heidegger's remarks in this seminar illuminate his interpretations not only of pre-Socratic philosophy, but also of figures such as Hegel and Holderllin. At the same time, Heidegger clarifies many late developments in his own understanding of truth, Being, and understanding. Heidegger and Fink, both deeply rooted in the Freiburg phenomenological tradition, offer two competing approaches to the phenomenological reading of the ancient text-a kind of reading that, as Fink says, is "not so much concerned with the philological problematic . . . as with advancing into the matter itself, that is, toward the matter that must have stood before Heraclitus's spiritual view."

Contents

• Mortal Fragment 62 ἕν τὸ σοφόν Correlated: 9
• Hermeneutical Circle Relatedness of ἕν and πάντα Correlated: 15
• πάνταὅλα πάντα ὄνταDifferent Exposition of Fragment 7: 27
• The Problem of a Speculative Explication πῦρ ἀείζωον: 49
• 30 124 66 76 31: 61
• Truth of Being Fragment 16: 71
• 32 90: 97
• The Standing Open of Gods and Humans Fragment 62: 108
• The Logical in Hegel Consciousness: 122
• Sleep and DreamAmbiguity of ἅπτεσθαι Correlated: 137
• Notes: 163

About the author

Martin Heidegger was born in Messkirch, Baden, Germany on September 22, 1889. He studied Roman Catholic theology and philosophy at the University of Frieburg before joining the faculty at Frieburg as a teacher in 1915. Eight years later Heidegger took a teaching position at Marburg. He taught there until 1928 and then went back to Frieburg as a professor of philosophy. As a philosopher, Heidegger developed existential phenomenology. He is still widely regarded as one of the most original philosophers of the 20th century. Influenced by other philosophers of his time, Heidegger wrote the book, Being in Time, in 1927. In this work, which is considered one of the most important philosophical works of our time, Heidegger asks and answers the question "What is it, to be?" Other books written by Heidegger include Basic Writings, a collection of Heidegger's most popular writings; Nietzsche, an inquiry into the central issues of Friedrich Nietzsche's philosophy; On the Way to Language, Heidegger's central ideas on the origin, nature and significance of language; and What is Called Thinking, a systematic presentation of Heidegger's later philosophy. Since the 1960s, Heidegger's influence has spread beyond continental Europe and into a number of English-speaking countries. Heidegger died in Messkirch on May 26, 1976.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Heraclitus Seminar; Northwestern University studies in phenomenology & existential philosophy, ISSN 0550-0060; Studies in Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy
• Authors: Martin Heidegger, Eugen Fink
• Editor: Eugen Fink
• Edition: reprint
• Publisher: Northwestern University Press, 1993
• ISBN: 0810110679, 9780810110670
• Length: 169 pages
• Subjects: Philosophy / History & Surveys / Ancient & Classical; Philosophy / History & Surveys / Modern; Philosophy / Movements / Existentialism; Philosophy / Movements / Phenomenology