Essence of Human Freedom

Martin Heidegger (1889-1976) was Professor of Philosophy at the University of Marburg and Freiburg, and is regarded as one of the twentieth century's most original and important philosophers - as well as one of its most controversial. His work has exerted a major and enduring influence on not only philosophy, but also theology, political thought and aesthetics. The translator.

"It is only a small exaggeration to say that each of Martin Heidegger's works seems to be the key to his thought...every book is bracing and magnetic...The effect is similar to what we see in the best political philosophy. Being stirred to think is as important as the question being thought about. Heidegger not only encourages thought, he also instructs us in how to begin thinking...Heidegger at his best calls forth what once was called courage of the intellect. Heidegger sees his characteristic path in The Essence of Human Freedom and The Essence of Truth as grounded in and circling back to history...The main things to be learned from these books concern what it means to confront essential questions at the level of Heidegger, Kant, Plato, and Aristotle. For the student, to be serious involves just such a confrontation." -- Claremont Review of Books, Summer 2005

• Translator's Foreword; Preliminary Considerations; Part One - Positive Definition of Philosophy from the Content of the Problem of Freedom. 1. First Breakthrough to the Proper Dimension of the Problem of Freedom in Kant. 2. The Leading Question of Philosophy and its Questionability. 3. Working the Leading Question of Metaphysics Through to the Fundamental Question of Philosophy. Part Two - Causality and Freedom; 1. Causality and Freedom as Cosmological Problem. 2. The Second Way to Freedom in the Kantian System. Conclusion: The Proper Ontological Dimension of Freedom. Editor's Afterword to the German Edition of July 1981. English-German Glossary; Greek-English Glossary