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Rating: 
Summary: Heidegger Zero
Review: In my opinion, the publication of this book was the most important event in the Anglophone study of what is aptly called "Continental philosophy" since Spivak's able translation of *Of Grammatology*: a collection culled from Heidegger's earliest work, it reveals the "secret king" rumored of by the 1919 KNS seminar at his most ungurulike, working through problems left him by the great practitioners of the *Geisteswissenschaften* (also soon to be taken up by Lukacs). It is well-known among Heidegger aficionados that Hans-Georg Gadamer spoke of the "turn before the turn" with respect to periodizing Heidegger's work, but this should really be understood as placing *Being and Time* as exemplary of truly novel currents in Heidegger's thought during the mid-20s: those looking to hive off that book from *Kant and the Problem of Metaphysics* have an excellent idea, but should take a *long look* at this material and decide whether the novelty of "existential hermeneutics" (here found in two quite distinct pieces) consisted in "up-to-date" variations on classical German idealism, as Heidegger's seminars attest to, as well as whether Heidegger had a truly substantial leg to stand on once the acceptability of his "critique" of the Nazi regime was seriously and righfully in question. In fact, perhaps the study of Heidegger in the 21st century should not be oriented towards ethical teachings divined in reports from a "desolate age" but rather to his fantastic problematizing of historiography. Read Macquarrie and Robinson if you must, read this if you are curious.
Rating:
Summary: An Exciting Scholarly Event
Review: The publication of this book represents a genuine milestone in the advance of Heidegger scholarship. It not only casts new light on Heidegger's biography as a student and lecturer at Freiburg, but also makes a number of crucial early texts available to English-speaking readers. Chapters 6-10 contain the most important material in the book, including one letter, the protocols of two lectures, and two longer, unpublished essays. This material covers the period between 1919 and 1925, arguably the most productive period in Heidegger's philosophical career. The editorial work and the translations are both excellent - would that the German "collected edition" employed such standards! My only complaint is that further "supplements" could have made this an even more important book. Here, I have in mind especially some of Heidegger's early correspondence with Jaspers, Blochmann, Bultmann, and Lowith. Perhaps this can find its way into a sequel. This is an excellent book, and I highly recommend it to anyone who has any interest at all in Heidegger.
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