Reflections II-VI (Black Notebooks 1931–1938)

Martin Heidegger

Überlegungen II–VI (Schwarze Hefte 1931–1938)

Translated to Russian by A. Grigoriev; under scientific editing by M. Mayatsky. Moscow, Gaidar Institute Press, 2016. – 584 p.

ISBN 978-5-93255-465-4

"Black notebooks" – so called Martin Heidegger (1889–1976) oilcloth notebooks in black with notes and reflections of various kinds, which he led since 1931. There were thirty-four of them. According to the author's will, the Frankfurt publishing house of Vittorio Klostermann started publishing them after all the books and lectures. The 94th volume of the Collected works of M. Heidegger, the translation of which we offer you, contains entries relating to the years 1931–1938 ("Reflections II-VI"; the very first notebook is lost).

The publisher of the Black notebooks, Peter Travny, described Heidegger's reflections in this way, based on his own self – assessment: they are not "aphorisms" as evidence of "worldly wisdom", but "inconspicuous outposts – and rearguard positions"– in a holistic attempt to win the way for initial questioning, which, in contrast to the metaphysical, calls itself Existential-historical thinking. This method is applied by the philosopher to the situation in religion, art, and science.

Black notebooks is a thinker's workshop: many of the notes will grow into articles, reports, and book chapters. In addition to philosophical questions, Heidegger makes sense of the situation in Germany after the Nazis came to power. In particular, he comments on his tenure as rector of the University of Freiburg and in connection with it all his complex attitude to national socialism. It is no coincidence that the publication of the Black notebooks caused a fierce controversy in Germany and other countries.