“Die Kehre spielt im Sachverhalt selbst” 1: Making sense of the twists and turns in Heidegger's thought

Keane, Niall

Abstract

The ‘turn’ or ‘turning’ ( Kehre ), which is used at various times and with multiple meanings, is without doubt one of the most problematic (and least monochromatic) terms when it comes to understanding Heidegger’s work and its lexical horizon. The effective history of its reception stems from the early literature, starting with Karl Löwith, Walter Schulz, and Max Müller, who locate in the Kehre a tendency toward a philosophical U-turn of sorts (Löwith 1953; Müller 1949; Schulz 1953–1954). However, with the works of Otto Pöggeler and Friedrich-Wilhelm von Herrmann, to name but two, there emerged the reception and nuanced defense of the idea of a continuity, albeit with qualifi cations and disagreements, in the development of the question of being, starting from Being and Time and running into the so-called later thought (Pöggler 1963; von Herrmann 1964, 1994). Heidegger’s editorial self-staging notwithstanding, these interpretations argue that the Kehre has little to do with the chronological twists and turns in Heidegger’s thought but rather with the matter ( Sache ) of Heidegger’s thought.

Moreover, it was by means of this abiding concern that Heidegger always defended the unity of his basic question while also being aware that the transitions in his thought attested to moments of great oscillation and upheaval, Umstürze. Furthermore, it is precisely these moments of philosophical oscillation and upheaval that forced Heidegger to pursue the unity of the content of his thinking, which both demands and makes possible its own transitions and reformulations.

• Publication Date: Mar 4, 2014
• Deposit Date: Mar 23, 2023
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis (Routledge)
• Pages: 295-314
• Edition: 1st
• Book Title: Phenomenology and the Transcendental
• Chapter Number: 14
• ISBN: 978-0-415-86988-1
• Keywords: Heidegger; Philosophy
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/10502302
• Publisher URL: https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9780203797037-19/die-kehre-spielt-im-sachverhalt-selbst-1-niall-keane?context=ubx&refId=d268d905-113d-46ac-bb43-128829fc33b1