Through these broad and sprawling notebooks, Heidegger offers fascinating opinions on Holderlin, Nietzsche, Wagner, Wittgenstein, Pascal, and many others. The importance of the Black Notebooks transcends Heidegger's relationship with National Socialism. These personal notebooks contain reflections on technology, art, Christianity, the history of philosophy, and Heidegger's attempt to move beyond that history into another beginning.

Ponderings XII-XV is third in a series of four "Black Notebooks" which Martin Heidegger composed in the early years of World War II. As always with Heidegger, the thoughts expressed here are not superficial reflections on current events, but instead penetrate deeply into them in order to contemplate their historical importance. Throughout his ponderings, Heidegger meditates on the call for an antidote to the rampant technological attitude which views all things with a dismissive consumer mentality. Although this volume caused quite a scandal when originally published in German due to...