Publisher's Synopsis
Martin Heidegger's Evening Conversation: In a Prisoner of War Camp in Russia, Between a Younger and an Older Man is dated May 8, 1945, the day on which National Socialism was defeated. The key to understanding the text is a quote from a Daoist Classic, the Zhuangzi. Why is Heidegger turning to Chinese philosophy on this historic occasion? For the philosopher and sinologist Fabian Heubel, the Evening Conversation offers a unique opportunity to critically assess Heidegger's opening to Eastern thought. At the same time, Heidegger's and Adorno's refusal to communicate is shown in a new light, as the book lets them enter into dialogue with the help of Daoist paradoxical thinking. In communicating these three moments, a transcultural critique emerges, marked by the historical consciousness of necessity and urgency. Heidegger's turn to the East has failed. But there is no philosophical way to China that can bypass his thinking.
