Book excerpt: Companion to Heidegger's Contributions to Philosophy Edited by Charles E. Scott, Susan Schoenbohm, Daniela Vallega-Neu, and Alejandro Vallega A key to unlocking one of Heidegger's most difficult and important works. The publication of the first English translation of Martin Heidegger's Beiträge zur Philosophie (Vom Ereignis) marked a significant event for Heidegger studies. Considered by scholars to be his most important work after Being and Time, Contributions to Philosophy (From Enowning) elaborates what Heidegger calls "being-historical-thinking," a project in which he undertakes to reshape what it means both to think and to be. Contributions is an indispensable book for scholars and students of Heidegger, but it is also one of his most difficult because of its aphoristic style and unusual language. In this Companion 14 eminent Heidegger scholars share strategies for reading and understanding this challenging work. Overall approaches for becoming familiar with Heidegger's unique language and thinking are included, along with detailed readings of key sections of the work. Experienced readers and those coming to the text for the first time will find the Companion an invaluable guide to this pivotal text in Heidegger's philosophical corpus. Contributors include Walter A. Brogan, David Crownfield, Parvis Emad, GÃ1⁄4nter Figal, Kenneth Maly, William McNeill, Richard Polt, John Sallis, Susan Schoenbohm, Charles E. Scott, Dennis J. Schmidt, Alejandro Vallega, Daniela Vallega-Neu, and Friedrich-Wilhelm von Herrmann. Charles E. Scott is Professor of Philosophy at Pennsylvania State University. He is author of The Question of Ethics, On the Advantages and Disadvantages of Ethics and Politics (both Indiana University Press), and The Time of Memory. Susan Schoenbohm has taught philosophy at Vanderbilt University, The University of the South, and Pennsylvania State University. She has published several articles on Heidegger, contemporary Continental thought, ancient Greek thought, and ancient Asian thought. Daniela Vallega-Neu teaches philosophy at California State University, Stanislaus. She is author of Die Notwendigkeit der Grundung in Zeitalter der Deconstruction. Alejandro Vallega teaches philosophy at California State University, Stanislaus. Studies in Continental Thought -- John Sallis, general editor July 2001 288 pages, 6 1/8 x 9 1/4 cloth 0-253-33946-4 $44.95 L / £34.00 paper 0-253-21465-3 $22.95 s / £17.50