Ripensare l’“umanità” dell’uomo. Per un attraversamento storico-concettuale della Lettera sull’“umanismo” di Martin Heidegger

The Letter on “Humanism” (1947) played a significant role in the development of Heidegger’s thought and in its reception. This article aims at discussing that famous work in relation to two strongly intertwined dimensions. First of all, a historical perspective. Heidegger’s Letter on “Humanism”, as a matter of fact, deals with topics, problems and authors that emerged in connection with the most relevant events of the time, i.e. the rise of totalitarian ideologies and the devastation of war. It is particularly interesting, therefore, to outline the genesis of this work. The article also deals with a conceptual perspective. After a rather long period of almost complete silence (as far as printed works are concerned), through the Letter on “Humanism” Heidegger seeks to explain why his idea of Dasein has nothing to do with existentialism (Sartre) and philosophy of existence. Discussing the relationship between Dasein and Sein he brings to surface the transition from the way in which the question of being is developed in Being and Time to the way in which it is developed in his later thought.