Abstract

The treatise elucidates the distinction between the first and the second beginning of philosophy in Heidegger’s analysis of the history of Being. The revealing of Being is in the first beginning an exaggerated lightness, which does not permit preserving and concealing. In the second beginning, however, the shining of Being is connected to concealment, which preserves, shelters and guards it. In both of the beginnings the question of truth is of fundamental meaning. The difference between the first and the second beginning lies in the orientation of thinking. In the first beginning the philosophy raises the question of the truth of being, and becomes, therefore, ontology, whereas in the second beginning philosophy deals with the truth of Being. The passage from the first to the second beginning existentially takes place in such a way, that it engages the human being, Da-sein, for the acceptance of Being as an enowning. This acceptance is a leap; it is described as an ecstatic projecting-opening of existence. This projecting-opening grounds the world in the firmness of earthly existence. The philosophy of Contributions to Philosophy is the basis of Heidegger’s critique of traditional philosophy in The Origin of the Work of Art.