A major turning point in Heidegger's thought

This book, the text of Martin Heidegger's lecture course of 1929/30, is crucial for an understanding of Heidegger's transition from the major work of his early years, Being and Time, to his later preoccupations with language, truth, and history. First published in German in 1983 as volume 29/30 of Heidegger's collected works, The Fundamental Concepts of Metaphysics presents an extended treatment of the history of metaphysics and an elaboration of a philosophy of life and nature. Heidegger's concepts of organism, animal behavior, and environment are uniquely developed and defined with intensity. Of major interest is Heidegger's brilliant phenomenological description of the mood of boredome, which he describes as a "fundamental attunement" of modern times.

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Whoever thought that Heidegger . . . has no surprises left in him had better read this new volume. If its rhetoric is "hard and heavy" its thought is even harder and essentially more daring than Heideggerians ever imagined Heidegger could be.

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This authoritative translation is essential to any Heidegger collection.

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In this text, which is crucial to understanding the transition from Heidegger's earlier to his later thinking, readers will find a helpful overview of Heidegger's conception of metaphysics . . . a brilliant phenomenological analysis of boredom . . . an investigation of the essence of life and animality . . . and an analysis of the structure of the propositional statement . . .