new Heidegger books

Only once every few new volumes is there actually something surprising anymore. But I did find Gesmatausgabe Band 76 today at Vrin, so there’s some Heidegger to work on on the plane. Looks like he’s trying to get somewhat concrete about technology in this volume– or at least I happened to see a reference to James Watt’s steam engine. But Heidegger as an empirical historian of specific technologies doesn’t seem like something that’s really in the cards.

Actually, the reason I was in Vrin in the first place is because Gabriel Catren showed me a different Heidegger book in French that he had just bought there. And after a few seconds I realized: “Wait a minute, I’ve never seen this one before!” It’s a French version of (presumably) part of what will eventually be Volume 80 in German. But the German doesn’t exist yet. It’s Heidegger at the Kassel Conference in 1925, speaking about Dilthey. Picked it up and will read it, which should be odd. I have indeed read Heidegger in French before, for the purpose of preparing my ENS lecture in January. But never before have I read something by Heidegger for the first time in French.

This is a great bunch of people, so it ought to be a nice conference day tomorrow. Sorry that Meillassoux won’t also be speaking, and sorry as well that Latour is out of town. Otherwise, almost everything is as wished.