Abstract

The late Heidegger speaks of an “original ethics” in his Letter on Humanism. However, this is not a sign of Heidegger’s attempt to construct an ethics, but rather a rejection of ethical theory. Original ethics is ontological ethical thought, and its originality is reflected in its pretheoretical and preethical character. On the one hand, this is positive because it resists the distortion of ethical life by theory; but on the other hand, Heidegger’s ontologization of ethics implies a neutralization in which the concrete contents of ethics are eliminated. Heidegger’s reflections on the possibilities of ethics can be traced back to the idea of metontology, which he developed after Being and Time. It will be shown here that Heidegger’s placement of ethics in metontology is precisely a precursor to the abolition of ethics. Thereafter, Heidegger radicalizes this and thus embarks on a pre-ethical or non-ethical path of thought. In order to understand Heidegger’s ontological path in depth and even to overcome it, it is necessary to go back to the beginning of his thought, i.e., to his interpretation of Aristotelian ethics. It is there that one finds Heidegger’s interest in practical philosophy, and precisely therein lies the possibility of an ethical path compatible with Heidegger’s thought.