Heidegger and Historicism

The main purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between Heidegger and historicism. It is ambivalent and complex. There are parts that both repel each other and attract each other. In a word, it can be described as a love-hate relationship. First of all, Heidegger defined historicism as a ‘modern phenomenon’ that tramples not only ‘history’ (Geschichte) and ‘the historical’ (das Geschichtliche), but also ‘present’ and ‘future’ by using dead concepts such as ‘historical science’ (Historie) and ‘past’. For that reason, he believed that such Rankean historicism, which had a lot of political implications, could and should inevitably disappear one day. However, Heidegger unintentionally approached the historicism he criticized, when he argued that the existence of ‘being there’ (Dasein) and ‘being’ (das Seiende) is determined only through the being of subject and the concept of time. This is because Heidegger’s concept of ‘subject’ is similar to that of ‘individuality’ of historicism, and his concept of ‘time’ has some similarities with the historicist concept of ‘development’. However, Heidegger did not put an end to his discussion at this point. His historical thought was directed toward overcoming German historicism by interpreting history as ultimately encompassing even the ‘future’. Heidegger’s futuristic historical thought, distinct from German historicism, should eventually be called ‘Heideggerian historicism’.