Book description
First published in German in 1995, volume 77 of Heidegger's Complete
Works consists of three imaginary conversations written as World War
II was coming to an end. Composed at a crucial moment in history and
in Heidegger's own thinking, these conversations present meditations
on science and technology; the devastation of nature, the war, and
evil; and the possibility of release from representational thinking
into a more authentic relation with being and the world. The first
conversation involves a scientist, a scholar, and a guide walking
together on a country path; the second takes place between a teacher
and a tower-warden, and the third features a younger man and an older
man in a prisoner-of-war camp in Russia, where Heidegger's two sons
were missing in action. Unique because of their conversational style,
the lucid and precise translation of these texts offers insight into
the issues that engaged Heidegger's wartime and postwar thinking.
"Not overly technical in philosophical style, it will be of
interest to philosophers outside of Heidegger studies. At the same
time, it will be of interest to those who are concerned with
Heidegger's writings and continental philosophy generally."
-James Risser, Seattle University
Bret W. Davis is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Loyola
University Maryland. He is author of Heidegger and the Will and editor
(with Brian Schroeder and Jason Wirth) of Japanese and Continental
Philosophy (IUP, 2010).
