Heidegger called this his most important book next to Being and Time, and I would agree.

It is a
book oI two lectures, one given to a public audience on Leibnez's Law and the other delivered as
the Iinal lecture in a seminar on Hegel. The Iirst lecture, "The Principle oI Identity," is
Heidegger's radical new take on what it means Ior something to be the same. Hegel looks back to
Plato to understand identity as something itselI being the same as itselI, and takes it to
stratospheric heights. The second lecture, "The Onto-Logico Constitution oI Metaphysics,"
brings Heidegger to the possible end oI metaphysics, to the Iact that we might need to leap out oI
metphsics, as metaphysics is the science oI the comprehension oI the beings oI Being.





"The problem oI identity has been a basic philosophical issue since Parmenides. Parmenides
stated it in the Iorm: `thought and being are the same,' with a radicality and a simplicity perhaps
never again possible Ior later thinkers. Heidegger has pondered over Parmenides' statement Ior
years, returning to it again and again in his writings. Thus it came as no surprise to this translator
when Heidegger stated that he considered Identity and DiIIerence to be the most important thing
he has published since Being and Time."

So says Joan Stambaugh, the translator oI this excellent lecture course by Heidegger delivered at
the University oI Frieburg during 1957. In it he discusses the problems oI identity, sameness, and
relations oI beings in Parmenides, Plato, on to the logic oI Hegel. The latter part oI the lecture is
devoted to Iurther metaphysical questions oI the meaning oI Being initially taken up in Being
and Time, and Iinally concludes with remarks oI onto-theology.

This volume includes the German text which is helpIul, however there is really only 74 pages oI
material here and the volume is $16 so it's not a great bang Ior your buck, but the edition is as
lovely as the content.