Abstract

This thesis focuses on Heidegger's writings of the period between 1927 and 1947. The notion of a "project of being" is taken as an organizing element and permits a description of the fundamental continuity in Heidegger's thinking during the period under consideration. ;The first chapter consists of a reading of Being and Time in which the concept of the hermeneutic circle is considered in its paradoxical structure. The notion of the constitution of the self is situated within this structure and particular attention is given to the fact that the relations existing between human subjects are fundamental for the individual self. ;The second chapter is concerned with Heidegger's reading of Nietzsche. By reading Nietzsche in terms of Being and Time, it is possible to demonstrate how Heidegger's reading reflects upon his own path of thinking, and how Nietzsche's thought opens to the fundamental event that Heidegger seeks to bring forth in his own project of thought. ;The third chapter is addressed to Heidegger's descriptions of the tragic character of this fundamental event. The first section of this chapter entails a reading of "The Self-Affirmation of the German University" and of An Introduction to Metaphysics. In this section, particular attention is given to the theme of "disaster" in so far as it describes the "disappropriation" that governs in the process of self-appropriation or self-affirmation. This theme is shown to rejoin elements of the description of existence in Being and Time. The second section consists of a reading of Heidegger's 1934-35 lectures on Holderlin and entails a comparison of Heidegger's descriptions of Holderlin's poetic reflection on tragedy with Holderlin's own "Remarks on Oedipus" and "Remarks on Antigone." The third section of this third chapter returns to Nietzsche, and involves a consideration of Heidegger's remarks on art in that volume in relation to Heidegger's essay, "The Origin of the Work of Art." ;The conclusion turns again to the problem of the structure of interpretation and reposes the fundamental questions of the thesis in this context