Thinking in Ruins: Life, Death, and Destruction in Heidegger's Early Writings

The essay provides an interpretation of the specific concept of "ruinance" (Ruinanz), as this is introduced and developed by Heidegger in his 1921/22 lecture series on Phenomenological Interpretations of Aristotle (GA 61). Instead of accepting this subsequently abandoned concept as a marginal excursus on Heidegger's part, the interpretation uses it as a lever to explore the interconnectedness of intentionality, falling, destruction, history and finitude, and also the proclaimed necessity of so-called "formally indicative concepts," of which ruinance itself is a supreme example.