Remarks I-V: Black Notebooks 1942-1948

This volume of Martin Heidegger’s Black Notebooks contains five short notebooks the philosopher composed during the pivotal years of 1942 to 1948. The notebooks constitute a form of intellectual diary with personal reflections on the fall of National Socialism, the occupation of Germany after WWII, and Heidegger’s own philosophical legacy. They address Heidegger’s political activities as Rector of Freiburg University in the early phase of National Socialism and testify to his embittered reaction to his own denazification process.

While this volume constitutes Heidegger’s most intensely personal and autobiographical text, it also documents pivotal philosophical moments between his earlier and later philosophy. Readers interested in the history of intellectuals under National Socialism will find personal insights from the hand of a major philosopher who became involved with National Socialism. Readers interested in the development of Heidegger’s thinking will find insightful documentation for the emergence of his post-WWII philosophical work.

Adam Knowles is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Zurich. He is the author of Heidegger’s Fascist Affinities: A Politics of Silence and translator of Martin Heidegger’s On the Essence of Language and the Question of Art.