Heidegger's last public university lecture before the end of World War II

First published in 1990 as the second part of volume 50 of Heidegger's Complete Works, Introduction to Philosophy presents Heidegger's final lecture course given at the University of Freiburg in 1944 before he was drafted into the German army. While the lecture is incomplete, Heidegger provides a clear and provocative discussion of the relation between philosophy and poetry by analyzing Nietzsche's poetry. Here, Heidegger explores themes such as the home and homelessness, the age of technology, globalization, postmodernity, the philosophy of poetry and language, aesthetics, and the role of philosophy in society. Translated into English for the first time, this text will be of particular interest to those who study Heidegger's politics and political philosophy.

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[This] translation is readable and admirably unobtrusive. Phillip Jacques Braunstein (independent scholar and entrepreneur) renders Heidegger's key terms in recognisable ways. He has a keen sense of when and how to include the original German in order to reveal translation choices and Heidegger's wordplay without sacrificing the flow of the text.2011

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[Abiding] within the depths of Holderlin's way of speaking, Heidegger arrives at the crossing between philosophy and poetry: the creative tension or 'essential sway' within language . . . .Sept. 2011