The Event of the World in Martin Heidegger’s Early Hermeneutical Phenomenology
The paper focuses on Heidegger’s 1919-1920 early research in order to point out his hermeneutical phenomenology of the life-world, arguing that the concept of world (Welt) is the main philosophical trigger for the phenomenology of factical life. Accordingly, the argument of the paper is twofold: First, the phenomenological hermeneutics of facticity is preceded both chronologically and philosophically by an original phenomenological investigation of life-world, in which the world is construed as the context of the givenness of life. Second, the phenomenology of life-world anticipates the question of being (Seinsfrage), but it also follows it, once this latter is shattered, the question of world as event remaining at the very core of Heidegger’s last meditations on the dominion of technology and the post-metaphysical abode of human beings on earth.
[1] E. Husserl, The Crisis of European Sciences and Transcendental Phenomenology. An Introduction to Phenomenology. Trans. by D. Carr, Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, 1970, p. 13.
[2] K. Löwith, Gott, Mensch und Welt in der Metaphysik von Descartes bis zu Nietzsche. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1967, pp. 7–9.
[3] H.-H. Gander, “Fenomenologia del mondo della vita. Husserl e Heidegger,” in Soggettività e autocoscienza. Prospettive storico-critiche, P. Palumbo and A. Le Moli Eds., “Quaderni di Fieri”, vol. 3. Milan: Mimesis edizioni, 2011, pp. 203–222, p. 206.
[4] E. Husserl, “Philosophy as a Rigorous Science,” in Phenomenology and the Crisis of Philosophy: Philosophy as a Rigorous Science, and Philosophy and the Crisis of European Man. Trans., with notes and an introduction by Q. Lauer, New York: Harper & Row, 1965, pp. 71–147.
[5] E. Husserl, Cartesian Meditations: An Introduction to Phenomenology. Trans. by D. Cairns. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publisher, 2013, pp. 32 and 71.
[6] R. Sowa, “Einleitung des Herausgebers”, in Die Lebenswelt. Auslegungen der vorgegebenen Welt und ihrer Konstitution. Texte aus dem Nachlass (1916-1937), E. Husserl, R. Sowa, Ed., Dordrecht: Springer Verlag, 2008, pp. xxv–lxxxi.
[7] E. Husserl, Ideas Pertaining to a Pure Phenomenology and to a Phenomenological Philosophy. Second Book: Studies in the Phenomenology of Constitution. Trans. by R. Rojcewicz and A. Schuwer. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publisher, 1989.
[8] C. Bermes, ›Welt‹ als Thema der Philosophie. Vom metaphysischen zum natürlichen Weltbegriff. Hamburg: Meiner Verlag, 2004, pp. 226 and 92–114.
[9] See E. Husserl, “Letter to Alexander Pfänder (January 6, 1931) by Edmund Husserl. Appendix II,” in Psychological and transcendental phenomenology and the confrontation with Heidegger (1927-1931). The Encyclopaedia Britannica article, the Amsterdam lectures “Phenomenology and anthropology,” and Husserl’s marginal notes in Being and time, and Kant and the problem of metaphysics, Th. Sheehan and R.E. Palmer, Eds., Dordrecht/Boston: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1997, pp. 479–483, p. 480.
[10] S. Luft, “Husserl’s concept of the ‘transcendental person’: Another look at the Husserl–Heidegger relationship,” International Journal of Philosophical Studies, vol. 13, n. 2, 2005, pp. 141–177.
[11] H.-H. Gander, Selbstverständnis und Lebenswelt. Grundzüge einer phänomenologischen Hermeneutik im Ausgang von Husserl und Heidegger. 2nd rev. ed., Frankfurt a.M.: Vittorio Klostermann Verlag, 2001, p. xiii.
[12] See M. Heidegger, Towards the Definition of Philosophy: 1. The Idea of Philosophy and the Problem of Worldview; 2. Phenomenology and Transcendental Philosophy of Value; with a transcript of the lecture course “On the Nature of the University and Academic Study” (Freiburg Lecture-courses 1919). Trans. by T. Sadler, New Brunswick, NJ: Bloomsbury, 2000.
[13] M. Heidegger, Basic Problems of Phenomenology: Winter Semester 1919/1920. Trans. by S.M. Campbell, London: Bloomsbury, 2013.
[14] On this, see G. Carbone, La questione del mondo nei primi corsi friburghesi di Martin Heidegger. Milan/Udine: Mimesis edizioni, 2017.
[15] See V. Costa, La verità del mondo. Giudizio e teoria del significato in Heidegger. Milan: Vita e pensiero, 2003.
[16] A. Ardovino, Heidegger. Esistenza ed effettività. Dall’ermeneutica dell’effettività all’analitica esistenziale (1919-1927). Milan: Guerini e Associati, 1998.
[17] See M. Heidegger, “Letter on ‘Humanism’,” in Pathmarks, W. McNeil, Ed., Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998, pp. 239–276, p. 261.
[18] M. Heidegger, Being and Time. Trans. by J. Stambaugh, Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1996, p. 401.
[19] Th. Kisiel, The Genesis of Heidegger’s ‘Being and Time’. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1993, pp. 16 and 116.
[20] J. Greisch, “La ‘Tapisserie de la vie’. Le phénomène de la vie et ses interprétations dans les Grundprobleme der Phänomenologie (1919/1920) de Martin Heidegger,” in Heidegger 1919-1929. De l’herméneutique de la facticité à la métaphysique du Dasein, J.-F. Courtine, Ed., Paris: Vrin, 1996, pp. 131–152, p. 134.
[21] See M. Jung, “Die frühen Freiburger Vorlesungen und andere Schriften 1919-1923. Aufbau einer eigenen Philosophie im historischen Kontext”, in Heidegger Handbuch, D. Thomä, Ed., Stuttgart-Weimar: J. B. Metzler, 2003, pp. 13–21.
[22] On this topic, see also G. Imdahl, Das Leben verstehen. Heideggers formal anzeigende Hermeneutik in den frühen Freiburger Vorlesungen, 1919 bis 1923. Würzburg: Königshausen&Neumann, 1997.
[23] See Saint Paul, 1 Corinthians, 7: 20.
[24] M. Heidegger, Phenomenology of Religious Life: 1. Introduction to the Phenomenology of Religion; 2. Augustine and Neo-Platonism; 3. The Philosophical Foundations of Medieval Mysticism. Trans. by M. Fritsch and J.A. Gosetti-Ferencei, Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2004.
[25] On this, see G. Fagniez, “Le concept de monde chez le jeune Heidegger,” in Heideggers Hermeneutik der Faktizität – L’herméneutique de la facticité de Heidegger – Heidegger’s Hermeneutics of Facticity, S. Camilleri, G. Fagniez, and Ch. Gauvry, Eds., Nordhausen: Verlag Traugott Bautz GmbH, 2018, pp. 113–130.
[26] M. Heidegger, Ontology: The Hermeneutics of Facticity. Trans. by J. van Buren, Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1999.
[27] M. Heidegger, Phenomenology of Intuition and Expression. Trans. by T. Colony, London: Bloomsbury, 2010, pp. 69–72.
[28] M. Merleau-Ponty, Phenomenology of perception. Trans. by C. Smith, London/New York: Routledge, 2002.
[29] S. Bancalari, L’altro e l’esserci. Il problema del Mitsein nel pensiero di Heidegger. Padua: Cedam, 1999, p. 16.
[30] See, e.g., M. Heidegger, Bremen and Freiburg Lectures: Insight Into that which is and Basic Principles of Thinking. Trans. by A.J. Mitchell, Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2012.
[31] M. Heidegger, Hölderlin’s Hymns “Germania” and “The Rhine”. Trans. by W. McNeill and J. Ireland, Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2014, pp. 88–90.
[32] M. Heidegger, Vier Hefte I und II (Schwarze Hefte 1947–1950), Gesamtausgabe vol. 99. Ed. by P. Trawny, Vittorio Klostermann, Frankfurt a.M., 2019, pp. 61–62.
[33] M. Heidegger, “Overcoming Metaphysics,” in The End of Philosophy. Trans. by J. Stambaugh. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2003, pp. 84–110, p. 109.
[1] E. Husserl, The Crisis of European Sciences and Transcendental Phenomenology. An Introduction to Phenomenology. Trans. by D. Carr, Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, 1970, p. 13.
[2] K. Löwith, Gott, Mensch und Welt in der Metaphysik von Descartes bis zu Nietzsche. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1967, pp. 7–9.
[3] H.-H. Gander, “Fenomenologia del mondo della vita. Husserl e Heidegger,” in Soggettività e autocoscienza. Prospettive storico-critiche, P. Palumbo and A. Le Moli Eds., “Quaderni di Fieri”, vol. 3. Milan: Mimesis edizioni, 2011, pp. 203–222, p. 206.
[4] E. Husserl, “Philosophy as a Rigorous Science,” in Phenomenology and the Crisis of Philosophy: Philosophy as a Rigorous Science, and Philosophy and the Crisis of European Man. Trans., with notes and an introduction by Q. Lauer, New York: Harper & Row, 1965, pp. 71–147.
[5] E. Husserl, Cartesian Meditations: An Introduction to Phenomenology. Trans. by D. Cairns. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publisher, 2013, pp. 32 and 71.
[6] R. Sowa, “Einleitung des Herausgebers”, in Die Lebenswelt. Auslegungen der vorgegebenen Welt und ihrer Konstitution. Texte aus dem Nachlass (1916-1937), E. Husserl, R. Sowa, Ed., Dordrecht: Springer Verlag, 2008, pp. xxv–lxxxi.
[7] E. Husserl, Ideas Pertaining to a Pure Phenomenology and to a Phenomenological Philosophy. Second Book: Studies in the Phenomenology of Constitution. Trans. by R. Rojcewicz and A. Schuwer. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publisher, 1989.
[8] C. Bermes, ›Welt‹ als Thema der Philosophie. Vom metaphysischen zum natürlichen Weltbegriff. Hamburg: Meiner Verlag, 2004, pp. 226 and 92–114.
[9] See E. Husserl, “Letter to Alexander Pfänder (January 6, 1931) by Edmund Husserl. Appendix II,” in Psychological and transcendental phenomenology and the confrontation with Heidegger (1927-1931). The Encyclopaedia Britannica article, the Amsterdam lectures “Phenomenology and anthropology,” and Husserl’s marginal notes in Being and time, and Kant and the problem of metaphysics, Th. Sheehan and R.E. Palmer, Eds., Dordrecht/Boston: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1997, pp. 479–483, p. 480.
[10] S. Luft, “Husserl’s concept of the ‘transcendental person’: Another look at the Husserl–Heidegger relationship,” International Journal of Philosophical Studies, vol. 13, n. 2, 2005, pp. 141–177.
[11] H.-H. Gander, Selbstverständnis und Lebenswelt. Grundzüge einer phänomenologischen Hermeneutik im Ausgang von Husserl und Heidegger. 2nd rev. ed., Frankfurt a.M.: Vittorio Klostermann Verlag, 2001, p. xiii.
[12] See M. Heidegger, Towards the Definition of Philosophy: 1. The Idea of Philosophy and the Problem of Worldview; 2. Phenomenology and Transcendental Philosophy of Value; with a transcript of the lecture course “On the Nature of the University and Academic Study” (Freiburg Lecture-courses 1919). Trans. by T. Sadler, New Brunswick, NJ: Bloomsbury, 2000.
[13] M. Heidegger, Basic Problems of Phenomenology: Winter Semester 1919/1920. Trans. by S.M. Campbell, London: Bloomsbury, 2013.
[14] On this, see G. Carbone, La questione del mondo nei primi corsi friburghesi di Martin Heidegger. Milan/Udine: Mimesis edizioni, 2017.
[15] See V. Costa, La verità del mondo. Giudizio e teoria del significato in Heidegger. Milan: Vita e pensiero, 2003.
[16] A. Ardovino, Heidegger. Esistenza ed effettività. Dall’ermeneutica dell’effettività all’analitica esistenziale (1919-1927). Milan: Guerini e Associati, 1998.
[17] See M. Heidegger, “Letter on ‘Humanism’,” in Pathmarks, W. McNeil, Ed., Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998, pp. 239–276, p. 261.
[18] M. Heidegger, Being and Time. Trans. by J. Stambaugh, Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1996, p. 401.
[19] Th. Kisiel, The Genesis of Heidegger’s ‘Being and Time’. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1993, pp. 16 and 116.
[20] J. Greisch, “La ‘Tapisserie de la vie’. Le phénomène de la vie et ses interprétations dans les Grundprobleme der Phänomenologie (1919/1920) de Martin Heidegger,” in Heidegger 1919-1929. De l’herméneutique de la facticité à la métaphysique du Dasein, J.-F. Courtine, Ed., Paris: Vrin, 1996, pp. 131–152, p. 134.
[21] See M. Jung, “Die frühen Freiburger Vorlesungen und andere Schriften 1919-1923. Aufbau einer eigenen Philosophie im historischen Kontext”, in Heidegger Handbuch, D. Thomä, Ed., Stuttgart-Weimar: J. B. Metzler, 2003, pp. 13–21.
[22] On this topic, see also G. Imdahl, Das Leben verstehen. Heideggers formal anzeigende Hermeneutik in den frühen Freiburger Vorlesungen, 1919 bis 1923. Würzburg: Königshausen&Neumann, 1997.
[23] See Saint Paul, 1 Corinthians, 7: 20.
[24] M. Heidegger, Phenomenology of Religious Life: 1. Introduction to the Phenomenology of Religion; 2. Augustine and Neo-Platonism; 3. The Philosophical Foundations of Medieval Mysticism. Trans. by M. Fritsch and J.A. Gosetti-Ferencei, Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2004.
[25] On this, see G. Fagniez, “Le concept de monde chez le jeune Heidegger,” in Heideggers Hermeneutik der Faktizität – L’herméneutique de la facticité de Heidegger – Heidegger’s Hermeneutics of Facticity, S. Camilleri, G. Fagniez, and Ch. Gauvry, Eds., Nordhausen: Verlag Traugott Bautz GmbH, 2018, pp. 113–130.
[26] M. Heidegger, Ontology: The Hermeneutics of Facticity. Trans. by J. van Buren, Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1999.
[27] M. Heidegger, Phenomenology of Intuition and Expression. Trans. by T. Colony, London: Bloomsbury, 2010, pp. 69–72.
[28] M. Merleau-Ponty, Phenomenology of perception. Trans. by C. Smith, London/New York: Routledge, 2002.
[29] S. Bancalari, L’altro e l’esserci. Il problema del Mitsein nel pensiero di Heidegger. Padua: Cedam, 1999, p. 16.
[30] See, e.g., M. Heidegger, Bremen and Freiburg Lectures: Insight Into that which is and Basic Principles of Thinking. Trans. by A.J. Mitchell, Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2012.
[31] M. Heidegger, Hölderlin’s Hymns “Germania” and “The Rhine”. Trans. by W. McNeill and J. Ireland, Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2014, pp. 88–90.
[32] M. Heidegger, Vier Hefte I und II (Schwarze Hefte 1947–1950), Gesamtausgabe vol. 99. Ed. by P. Trawny, Vittorio Klostermann, Frankfurt a.M., 2019, pp. 61–62.
[33] M. Heidegger, “Overcoming Metaphysics,” in The End of Philosophy. Trans. by J. Stambaugh. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2003, pp. 84–110, p. 109.
@article{"International Journal of Business, Human and Social Sciences:80815", author = "Guelfo Carbone", title = "The Event of the World in Martin Heidegger’s Early Hermeneutical Phenomenology", abstract = "The paper focuses on Heidegger’s 1919-1920 early research in order to point out his hermeneutical phenomenology of the life-world, arguing that the concept of world (Welt) is the main philosophical trigger for the phenomenology of factical life. Accordingly, the argument of the paper is twofold: First, the phenomenological hermeneutics of facticity is preceded both chronologically and philosophically by an original phenomenological investigation of life-world, in which the world is construed as the context of the givenness of life. Second, the phenomenology of life-world anticipates the question of being (Seinsfrage), but it also follows it, once this latter is shattered, the question of world as event remaining at the very core of Heidegger’s last meditations on the dominion of technology and the post-metaphysical abode of human beings on earth.", keywords = "Life-world, Heidegger, phenomenology, hermeneutics.", volume = "16", number = "5", pages = "271-5", }
