Letter on Humanism

• 1. The 1946 Exchange

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  Martin Heidegger wrote a letter in December 1946. Jean Beaufret sent questions on the 10th of November 1946. These questions concerned French existentialism. The exchange began with this specific date and ended with Heidegger's response months later. Heidegger did not write to Beaufret as a casual friend. He responded to a direct inquiry about Sartre's work. This moment marked the start of a public philosophical debate. The letter would become known as Letter on Humanism. It emerged from a single correspondence between two thinkers.

• 2. Critique Of Existentialism

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  Heidegger addressed Sartre's address titled Existentialism is a Humanism. He used modes of being to ground freedom ontologically. He distinguished between being-in-itself and being-for-itself. Sartre claimed existence precedes essence. Heidegger argued that Sartre took existentia and essentia according to their metaphysical meaning. Plato had said that essentia precedes existentia since ancient times. Sartre reversed this statement. Heidegger insisted that reversing a metaphysical statement remains a metaphysical statement. With it, he stays with metaphysics. He remained in oblivion of the truth of Being.

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• 3. Ontological Freedom

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  The text attempts to establish freedom through an ontological framework. Heidegger rejected metaphysical definitions for human action. He sought to move beyond traditional categories of thought. His approach relied on distinguishing specific modes of being. These distinctions formed the basis of his argument against Sartre. He did not offer a new definition of freedom. Instead he grounded it within the structure of existence itself. This method required abandoning standard philosophical assumptions about agency.

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• 4. Metaphysics And Truth

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  Sartre's reversal of the essence-existence relationship trapped him within traditional metaphysics. Heidegger argued that such reversals do not escape the system they oppose. The truth of Being remained hidden behind these debates. Plato established the original order where essence comes before existence. Sartre flipped this order but kept the same metaphysical structure. Heidegger claimed this left thinkers in oblivion regarding the true nature of Being. The debate thus failed to reach the ground of existence.

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• 5. Publication History

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  Heidegger reworked the letter for publication in 1947. The initial draft appeared in December 1946 as a response to Beaufret. Klostermann published the final version in Frankfurt am Main in 1949. The text distanced Heidegger from Sartre's position and existentialism generally. William J. Richardson documented this history in Martin Heidegger: From Phenomenology to Thought. That book appeared in 1967 on page 351. The letter evolved from private correspondence into a public philosophical statement over three years.