The later Heidegger

Heidegger's long career - his significant works range from 1919 to 1973- coupled with the rapid pace and revolutions of history during his lifetime, meant that his work underwent some very real transformations. Heidegger was an uncommonly productive writer; his collected works is planned for over a hundred volumes. He was also unusually self-critical in his work so that there never emerges something like a "system" or even clear "fundamentals" that might characterize his work. His work needs to be read as very much a work in progress, guided by rather steady goals and concerns, but always evolving, The motto that Heidegger chose for his collected works- "Wedge, nicht Werke" (paths, not works) -is one of the ways that Heidegger himself would call attention to this evolutionary quality of his work. One important consequence of this constantly evolving quality of Heidegger's work is that even real transformations in his thought need to be understood in relation to earlier stages of his thinking. That is why this evolution of his thought is crucial and needs to be addressed in any effort to understand his philosophic contributions.