Nietzsche's word "God is dead"

pp. 434-439

in: William Richardson, Heidegger, The Hague, Nijhoff, 1963

Abstract

The summer semester of 1940 brought the study of φύσις in Aristotle. It included one illuminating remark on λόγος and the problem of language, but since the whole matter will be treated fully in 1944, we defer comment until later. We come, then, to the Nietzsche analyses. It was 1950 before these reached the public in the form of the essay, "Nietzsche's Word "God is dead'."¹ The essay was based on the university lecture courses of 1936–1940.² In 1961 the full text of these lectures themselves appeared, together with certain essays that date from 1941.³ For the sake of simplicity, we consider the latter as forming a unity with the essay itself. The following remarks, then, should be taken to represent the author's thought up to and including 1941.