An English translation of one of Heidegger's most important early lecture courses, including his most extensive treatment of the topic of destruction. It helps to understand the early development of Heidegger's thought.

Translator's Foreword; Introduction: The Problem Situation of Philosophy; 1. The Function of a 'Theory of Philosophical Concept Formation' in Phenomenology; 2. The Distinction between Scientific Philosophy and Worldview Philosophy; 3. Life Philosophy and Culture Philosophy - the Two Main Groups of Contemporary Philosophy; 4. Life as Primal Phenomenon and the Two Problem Groups of Contemporary Philosophy; 5. The Phenomenological Destruction Groups; Part I: On the Destruction of the Problem of the A Priori; 6. The Six Meanings of History and First Bringing-Out of the Pre-Delineations in Them; 7. The Right Pursuit of the Pre-Delineations: The Explication of the Sense-Complexes; 8. Characterization of Relation: The Articulation of the Sense-Complexes According to the Sense of Relation; 9. The Role of the Historical within the A Priori Tendency of Philosophy; 10. Characterization of Enactment: The Articulation of the Sense-Complexes According to the Sense of Enactment; Part II: On the Destruction of the Problem of Lived Experience; 11. The Transition to the Second Problem Group and the Relation between Psychology and Philosophy; Section One: The Destructing Consideration of the Natorpian Position; 12. The Four Viewpoints of Destruction; 13. Natorp's General Reconstructive Psychology; 14. The Carrying-Out of the Destruction; 15. Constitution as Guiding Preconception; Section Two: The Destructing Consideration of the Diltheyian Position (Transcript: Oskar Becker); 16. The Attitudinal Character of Natorp's Philosophy and the Expectation of the Opposite in Dilthey's; 17. Report on Dilthey's Philosophy; 18. The Destruction of the Diltheyian Philosophy; 19. Natorp and Dilthey - The Task of Philosophy Appendices; Editor's Afterword; Glossary, Notes, Index.

The Athlone Contemporary European Thinkers series offers authoritative texts from the most important and influential thinkers at work in Continental Philosophy this century. The series ranges across the full spectrum of Continental thought, covering the fields of philosophy, post-structuralism, psychoanalysis and critical theory, and includes key theorists such as Heidegger, Henri Lefebvre, Michel Serres, Nuno Nabais, Hans-Georg Gadamer, Deleuze, Guattari and Alain Badiou. Titles in the series are ideal for students in upper-undergraduate and graduate years but also scholars seeking access to the works of seminal Continental thinkers.