Available now, Barnard’s essay for the Journal of the British Society for Phenomenology, online in advance of the paper edition.
Matthew J. Barnard– ‘Power and Freedom in Heidegger’s First Notebook’ (Originally published online: 18 November 2019).
Abstract: In the first notebook published in Überlegungen II-VI, which covers the years 1931 and 1932, Martin Heidegger uses a conception of power that is different to that found in his later work. Rather than power being the expression of the will to will and source of ruin for humanity, he says that humanity can only be saved from ruin if it can pave the way for an “empowerment of being” (Ermächtigung des Seins). This article will show that this early understanding of power is related to Heidegger’s conception of freedom as the essence of truth, developing his thinking on this topic from the period of 1927–1930. It will show that the terms “empowerment of being” and “letting be” (Seinlassen) are akin, and that Heidegger uses the former to distance his thinking from potential misinterpretations of the essay “On the Essence of Truth”.
Full article: https://doi.org/10.1080/00071773.2019.1690749
Matthew J. Barnard, Department of History, Politics and Philosophy, Faculty of Arts and Humanities, Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, UK
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