Discourse on Thinking (Torchbooks TB 1459)

Several reviews I read made me question the wisdom of ordering this hardcover reprint but I was very happy to find it to be perfect!

I had to purchase this book for a college class but did not need it until the end of the semester. Unfortunately by that time my return window had closed. This book had pages with partial print and some with no print. The one section that I was required to read had two pages with no print on them. I paid for a new book instead of a used one and received a book I was unable to use and had to find the section I needed to read online. Basically just threw my money away on this purchase.

Book was a book

school text, take it or leave it

A classic. Late H. What else?

love it !

Martin Heidegger (1889-1976) was an influential and controversial German philosopher, primarily concerned with Being, and phenomenology---who was widely (perhaps incorrectly) also perceived as an Existentialist. His relationship with the Nazi party in Germany has been the subject of widespread controversy and debate [e.g.,  Heidegger and Nazism , Heidegger and the Nazis , Heidegger's Crisis: Philosophy and Politics in Nazi Germany , Heidegger and the Question of National Socialism , etc.] He wrote many other books, such as  Being and Time , Introduction to Metaphysics , Basic Writings , Nietzsche, Vol. 1: The Will to Power as Art, Vol. 2: The Eternal Recurrence of the Same , Nietzsche: Vol. 3: The Will to Power as Knowledge and as Metaphysics; Vol. 4: Nihilism , The Question Concerning Technology , etc.Heidegger’s ‘Discourse on Thinking’ was first published in 1959; it consists of a Memorial Address for the 100th anniversary of the death of the German composer, Conradin Kreutzer, followed by a mock dialogue [“Conversation On a Country Path About Thinking”] between a teacher, a scientist, and a scholar [which was largely composed in 1944-45]. This edition also contains about forty pages of introductory material [making Heidegger’s words in this thin book less than fifty pages].In the Memorial Address, he observes, “A memorial celebration means that we think back, that we THINK… It is to help us to think back both to the composer we honor and to his work. These memories come alive as soon as we relate the story of Conradin Kreutzer’s life, and recount and describe his works. Through such a relating we can find much that is joyful and sorrowful, much that is instructive and exemplary. But at bottom we merely allow ourselves to be entertained by such a talk. In listening to such a story, no thinking at all is needed, no reflecting is demanded on what concerns each one of us immediately and continually in his very being. Thus even a memorial address gives no assurance that we will think at a memorial celebration.” (Pg. 44)He comments about a proclamation [“Science is a road to a happier human life”] by eighteen Nobel Prize-winning scientists, “What is the sense of this statement? Does it spring from reflection? Does it ever ponder on the meaning of the atomic age? No! For is we rest content with this statement of science, we remain as far as possible from a reflective insight into our age. Why? Because we forgot to ponder. Because we forgot to ask: What is the ground that enabled modern technology to discover and set free new energies in nature?” (Pg. 50)He argues, “We can affirm the unavoidable use of technical devices, and also deny them the right to dominate us, and so to warp, confuse, and lay waste to our nature… I would call this comportment toward technology which expresses ‘yes’ and at the same time ‘no,’ by an old word, ‘releasement toward things.’ Having this comportment we no longer view things only in a technical way. It gives us clear vision and we notice that while the production and use of machines demands of us another relation to things, it is not a meaningless relation.” (Pg. 54)He concludes the address, “Perhaps today’s memorial celebration will prompt us toward this. If we respond to the prompting, we think of Conradin Kreutzer by thinking of the origin of his work, the life-giving powers of his Heuberg homeland. And it is WE who THINK if we know ourselves here and now as the men who must find and prepare the way into the atomic age, through it and out of it.” (Pg. 56)In the dialogue, the Teacher observes, “a word does not and never can re-present anything; but signifies something, that is, shows something as abiding into the range of its expressibility.” (Pg. 69)Later, the Teacher suggests, “the nature of man is released to that-which-regions and used by it accordingly, for this reason alone---that man of himself has no power over truth and it remains independent of him. Truth’s nature can come forth independently of man only because the nature of man (as releasement to that-which-regions) is used by that-which-regions in regioning both with respect to man and to sustain determining. Evidently truth’s independence FROM man is a relation TO human nature, a relation which rests on the regioning of human nature into that-which-regions.” (Pg. 84)This short book will be of keen interest to those studying Heidegger (particularly his later philosophy).

Martin Heidegger (1889-1976) was an influential and controversial German philosopher, primarily concerned with Being, and phenomenology---who was widely (perhaps incorrectly) also perceived as an Existentialist. His relationship with the Nazi party in Germany has been the subject of widespread controversy and debate [e.g.,  Heidegger and Nazism , Heidegger and the Nazis , Heidegger's Crisis: Philosophy and Politics in Nazi Germany , Heidegger and the Question of National Socialism , etc.] He wrote many other books, such as  Being and Time , Introduction to Metaphysics , Basic Writings , Nietzsche, Vol. 1: The Will to Power as Art, Vol. 2: The Eternal Recurrence of the Same , Nietzsche: Vol. 3: The Will to Power as Knowledge and as Metaphysics; Vol. 4: Nihilism , The Question Concerning Technology , etc.Heidegger’s ‘Discourse on Thinking’ was first published in 1959; it consists of a Memorial Address for the 100th anniversary of the death of the German composer, Conradin Kreutzer, followed by a mock dialogue [“Conversation On a Country Path About Thinking”] between a teacher, a scientist, and a scholar [which was largely composed in 1944-45]. This edition also contains about forty pages of introductory material [making Heidegger’s words in this thin book less than fifty pages].In the Memorial Address, he observes, “A memorial celebration means that we think back, that we THINK… It is to help us to think back both to the composer we honor and to his work. These memories come alive as soon as we relate the story of Conradin Kreutzer’s life, and recount and describe his works. Through such a relating we can find much that is joyful and sorrowful, much that is instructive and exemplary. But at bottom we merely allow ourselves to be entertained by such a talk. In listening to such a story, no thinking at all is needed, no reflecting is demanded on what concerns each one of us immediately and continually in his very being. Thus even a memorial address gives no assurance that we will think at a memorial celebration.” (Pg. 44)He comments about a proclamation [“Science is a road to a happier human life”] by eighteen Nobel Prize-winning scientists, “What is the sense of this statement? Does it spring from reflection? Does it ever ponder on the meaning of the atomic age? No! For is we rest content with this statement of science, we remain as far as possible from a reflective insight into our age. Why? Because we forgot to ponder. Because we forgot to ask: What is the ground that enabled modern technology to discover and set free new energies in nature?” (Pg. 50)He argues, “We can affirm the unavoidable use of technical devices, and also deny them the right to dominate us, and so to warp, confuse, and lay waste to our nature… I would call this comportment toward technology which expresses ‘yes’ and at the same time ‘no,’ by an old word, ‘releasement toward things.’ Having this comportment we no longer view things only in a technical way. It gives us clear vision and we notice that while the production and use of machines demands of us another relation to things, it is not a meaningless relation.” (Pg. 54)He concludes the address, “Perhaps today’s memorial celebration will prompt us toward this. If we respond to the prompting, we think of Conradin Kreutzer by thinking of the origin of his work, the life-giving powers of his Heuberg homeland. And it is WE who THINK if we know ourselves here and now as the men who must find and prepare the way into the atomic age, through it and out of it.” (Pg. 56)In the dialogue, the Teacher observes, “a word does not and never can re-present anything; but signifies something, that is, shows something as abiding into the range of its expressibility.” (Pg. 69)Later, the Teacher suggests, “the nature of man is released to that-which-regions and used by it accordingly, for this reason alone---that man of himself has no power over truth and it remains independent of him. Truth’s nature can come forth independently of man only because the nature of man (as releasement to that-which-regions) is used by that-which-regions in regioning both with respect to man and to sustain determining. Evidently truth’s independence FROM man is a relation TO human nature, a relation which rests on the regioning of human nature into that-which-regions.” (Pg. 84)This short book will be of keen interest to those studying Heidegger (particularly his later philosophy).

Mine had writing in pencil. Clearly wasn't new

Possible Heideggers' most accessible work on thinking, especially the first section. The second section is harder but, like all of Heidegger, rewarding with a dollop of mental elbow grease...

the introduction seems a little complex at first, but once you start to read the actual essays, it is one fun read, not as difficult as ti may seem, but it might be better to know Heidegger's previous works before diving into this one