Martin Heidegger and the problem of historical meaning

*Martin Heidegger and the Problem of Historical Meaning* explores the central role of historical thought in the writings of Martin Heidegger, both in the earlier period of his work that culminated with the publication of *Being and Time* in 1927 and after the so-called "reversal" or *Kehre* that inaugurated his later thought. The author analyzes Heidegger's writings in relation to a key unifying theme: the problem of historical meaning, involving the threat of historical relativism, which emerged with particular acuity in 19th century Germany. Following the decline of German Idealism and, in particular, of Hegel's attempt to anchor the radical historicity of human understanding in an absolute foundation, this problem threatened to undermine any theoretical attempt to attain coherent criteria of truth. Indeed, if human understanding itself is subject to radical modification in different historical periods, on what basis might the truths asserted in any given period claim more than a relative validity, limited to the period in which they arise and doomed to be superseded (but not necessarily comprehended) by the different perspective that comes to predominance in a later historical p