The End of Life Is Not the Worst: On Heidegger’s Notion of the World

Authors

  • Jan Völker Bauhaus University Weimar, Weimar

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.3986/fv.42.2.06

Keywords:

Heidegger, world, earth, truth, anthropocene

Abstract

The article proposes to reconsider the late Heidegger’s examination of the concept of the world, as for Heidegger the eradication of all life on planet earth is not the most horrible thing that could happen. It is the impossibility of thinking the world that exposes us to something worse: the loss of our link with being. Following Heidegger, to think the world is not only necessary to prevent the extinction of life on earth, but, moreover, the loss of thinking the world lies at the beginning of the crisis we are living through.

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References

Heidegger, Martin, “Der Ursprung des Kunstwerks”, in Holzwege, Frankfurt am Main, Vittorio Klostermann, 1950, pp. 1–74.

Heidegger, Martin, “The Question Concerning Technology”, in The Question Concerning Technology and Other Essays, trans. W. Lovitt, New York and London, Garland Publishing, 1977, pp. 3–35.

Heidegger, Martin, “‘Only a God Can Save Us’: The Spiegel Interview (1966)”, in T. Sheehan (ed.), Heidegger, The Man and the Thinker, Chicago, Precedent Publishing, 1981, pp. 45–72.

Heidegger, Martin, “Die Frage nach der Technik”, in Gesamtausgabe, I. Abteilung: Veröffentlichte Schriften 1910-1976, Bd. 7, Vorträge und Aufsätze, Frankfurt am Main, Vittorio Klostermann, 2000, pp. 3–36.

Heidegger, Martin, “The Origin of the Work of Art”, in Off the Beaten Track, trans. J. Young and K. Haynes, Cambridge and New York, Cambridge University Press, 2002, pp. 1–56.

Heidegger, Martin, Gesamtausgabe, III. Abteilung: Unveröffentlichte Abhandlungen, Bd. 79, Bremer und Freiburger Vorträge, Frankfurt am Main, Vittorio Klostermann, 2005.

Heidegger, Martin, Bremen and Freiburg Lectures: Insight Into That Which Is and Basic Principles of Thinking, trans. A. J. Mitchell, Bloomington and Indianapolis, Indiana University Press, 2012.

Morton, Timothy, Hyperobjects: Philosophy and Ecology after the End of the World, Minneapolis and London, University of Minnesota Press, 2013.

Nancy, Jean-Luc, The Sense of the World, trans. J. S. Librett, Minneapolis and London, University of Minnesota Press, 1997.

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Published

2021-12-31 — Updated on 2022-04-06

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How to Cite

Völker, J. (2022). The End of Life Is Not the Worst: On Heidegger’s Notion of the World. Filozofski Vestnik, 42(2). https://doi.org/10.3986/fv.42.2.06 (Original work published December 31, 2021)

Issue

Vol. 42 No. 2 (2021): The Concept of World in Contemporary Philosophy

Section

The Concept of World in Contemporary Philosophy

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