It's Worlding!

One Hundred Years of Heidegger’s Kriegsnotsemester Lecture (1919)

Abstract

Exactly one hundred years ago, Heidegger—then Husserl’s new scientific assistant—delivered at the University of Freiburg a lecture entitled The Idea of Philosophy and the Problem of Worldview on the War Emergency Semester (Kriegsnotsemester). From our contemporary viewpoint, the lecture is not only important for historical reasons, but rather because of its combative and radical tone. Heidegger’s determination of phenomenology as originary pretheoretical science redefines the scope of phenomenological research and prepares the path for its hermeneutical transformation. In sum, the lecture serves as testimony of the development of Heidegger’s own philosophical voice, as early as the very beginning of his teaching career.