HEIDEGGER’S TRANSCENDENTALISM by

This paper attempts to marshall some of the evidence of the transcendental character of Heidegger’s later thinking, despite his repudiation of any form of transcendental thinking, including that of his own earlier project of fundamental ontology. The transcendental significance of that early project is first outlined through comparison and contrast with the diverse transcendental turns in the philosophies of Kant and Husserl. The paper then turns to Heidegger’s account of the historical source of the notion of transcendence in Plato’s thinking, its legacy in various forms of transcendental philosophy, and his reasons for attempting to think in a post-transcendental way. The paper concludes by identifying four vestiges of the transcendental turn in Heidegger’s later thinking. Wie steht es vor allem mit der Bestimmung des Seins als Grund? 1 The title of this paper is problematic in several respects. In the first place, the term ‘transcendentalism’ in an American context is linked to the movement, at once philosophical, religious, and literary, that took shape in the writings of early-nineteenth-century–New England thinkers like Emerson, Thoreau, Fuller, and Parker. Though Heidegger’s thinking bears some deep and intriguing affinities with this movement, American transcendentalism does not appear to figure in any direct way in his development.2 Heidegger seems to identify American thinking largely with pragmatism and capitalist apologetics. He shares with Weber and others at the time the view that Germany has a unique mission in Europe, given its precarious position, caught in the “pincers” between Soviet Russia and America.3 But even in the German context in the early part of the twentieth century, talk of transcendentalism in Heidegger’s case is problematic. German writers at the time used the term as a moniker for NeoKantian philosophy in contrast to positivism and that philosophical newcomer to which Heidegger initially attaches his star, namely, the Research in Phenomenology, 35 © Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands 2005 RIPh 35_f2_29-54 8/2/05 2:38 PM Page 29