Contributions to Philosophy

Contributions to Philosophy

Cover of the German edition
Author	Martin Heidegger
Original title	Beiträge zur Philosophie (Vom Ereignis)
Translator	1999: Parvis Emad and Kenneth Maly 2012: Richard Rojcewicz and Daniela Vallega-Neu
Country	Germany
Language	German
Subject	Philosophy
Published	1989 (in German) 1999: Indiana University Press 2012: Indiana University Press
Preceded by	Introduction to Metaphysics (Heidegger)
Followed by	Hölderlin's Hymn "The Ister"

1999: Parvis Emad and Kenneth Maly

Contributions to Philosophy (German: Beiträge zur Philosophie (Vom Ereignis)) is a work by German philosopher Martin Heidegger. It was first translated into English by Parvis Emad and Kenneth Maly and published by Indiana University Press in 1999 as Contributions to Philosophy (From Enowning). In 2012, a new translation was done by Richard Rojcewicz and Daniela Vallega-Neu and published by Indiana University Press as Contributions to Philosophy (Of the Event). Composed privately between 1936 and 1938, but not available to the public until it was published in Germany in 1989, the work is thought to reflect "the turn" (die Kehre) in Heidegger's thought after Being and Time (1927).

In Contributions to Philosophy (From Enowing), Heidegger builds on the notions of earth and world, which he had previously introduced in "The Origin of the Work of Art", and introduces the concept of "the last god". The result is a move away from the centrality of the phenomenological analyses of Dasein, toward the grounding of Dasein as a historical decision of human beings. Earth can be understood as the condition of possibilities for the world; neither earth nor world can exist without the other, and are thus engaged in a constant and productive struggle or strife. This struggle exists in the crossing from the "first beginning" of Western thought, which began with the ancient Greeks and determined the entire history of metaphysics, to the "other beginning", which will move beyond metaphysics by properly and originally posing the question of the truth of being (Sein). In a parallel fashion, human beings counter god(s), and a space between these four points is opened up for the moment of "enowning", which grounds the "essential sway" of being. The up-welling of the present comes from the future before itself. This means that the being in the now changes the being of the future and thus our utilization of our being in the past.