Some Features of Russian Reception of Martin Heidegger in Relation to Debates Over His Black Notebooks

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article focuses on the Russian image of Heidegger as a thinker of Being, as a conservative critic of late modernity, and as a “post” philosopher. On the one hand, special interest in Heidegger’s theory of deconstruction developed in Russia under French postmodernism’s influence on late Soviet and post-Soviet philosophy. On the other hand, reception of Heidegger’s critique of European nihilism, total domination, and scientific technology contributed significantly to interest in issues related to the political implications of philosophy. The author sees the unique features of Heidegger’s Russian reception in its rejection of the rigid distinction between Heidegger’s “core” philosophy and the “incidental” circumstances associated with his political activities in the 1930s. The current debates over his Black Notebooks demonstrate not only the existence of an independent language of description and analysis in Russia’s philosophical milieu, but also an original tendency toward a holistic consideration of Heidegger’s thought. In addition to reviews of his Black Notebooks by Nelly V. Motroshilova, Vladimir V. Mironov, and Dagmar Mironowa in the pages of Voprosy filosofii, the author discusses the earlier works of Nelly V. Motroshilova, Vladimir V. Bibikhin, Arseny V. Gulyga, Valery A. Podoroga, and Aleksandr G. Dugin.