Discourse on Thinking (Torchbooks TB 1459)

Several reviews I read made me question the wisdom of ordering this hardcover reprint but I was very happy to find it to be perfect!

Book was a book

A classic. Late H. What else?

I had to purchase this book for a college class but did not need it until the end of the semester. Unfortunately by that time my return window had closed. This book had pages with partial print and some with no print. The one section that I was required to read had two pages with no print on them. I paid for a new book instead of a used one and received a book I was unable to use and had to find the section I needed to read online. Basically just threw my money away on this purchase.

I wanted to leave a review since a few on here are reporting printing issues. I did a cursory glance at all the pages and so far they are all printed normally. My only issue is some of the printing is light so its very faded and somewhat hard to read on a few different passages. It most likely is a scanned copy. However, for the price, I paid about $8 for the paperback, it seems decent. It is still readable. The overall essay is very short, followed by a dialogue of sorts by Heidegger. The content itself is well worth the price as well. I would risk buying it if you are interested in Heidegger's evolution. And his concept of releasement. The introduction was pretty good but would rather just form my own opinion first. No underlines either in my copy.

love it !

I've read several essays and one book by Martin Heidegger and I am definitely of the opinion that the Discourse on Thinking is far and away the easiest of these to understand. This work was read to the "general public" and, I suppose, that is the reason it is so accessible. In it, Heidegger compares calculative and meditative thinking and exhorts the public to do the latter in terms of his "releasement toward things" and "openness to the mystery." Yes, it gives average guys and gals a way to think about all the beings in the world and encourages us to pursue an authentic relationship to beings, and Being, in a practical way.

This is an indispensible work if you are interested in discovering what Heidegger was thinking towards the end of his career. "Discourse on Thinking" can be seen as a succinct statement of his thinking on thinking in relation to the onslaught of global technology and the concomitant nihilism that follows close behind. In the face of the domination of global technology, what is to be done? In terms of "Letting-Be" (Gelassenheit) thinking must overcome its preoccupation with instrumental reasoning which is based on representation and rationality. It is in "meditative thinking" that we are able to arrive at a proper relationship with technology. An important work related to this is Heidegger's "Question Concerning Technology" in which he sets up the structure of this domination - the world is presented as a "standing resource" and we become "standing resources" in an indirect way. The work forms an invaluable background for this text and it is also available in Amazon.com. Another important work is Schirmacher's "Technik und Gelassenheit" which offers an important critique of Heidegger's philosophy of technology. The work is unfortunately, yet to be translated into English and even its German edition seems to be out of print at the moment. We await the translation of this work with much anticipation!

Possible Heideggers' most accessible work on thinking, especially the first section. The second section is harder but, like all of Heidegger, rewarding with a dollop of mental elbow grease...

the introduction seems a little complex at first, but once you start to read the actual essays, it is one fun read, not as difficult as ti may seem, but it might be better to know Heidegger's previous works before diving into this one