From the Neutralität of Dasein to the Totalization of “Woman”: Gender Transformation and Its Political Implications in Heidegger’s Philosophy

This article examines the transformation of the place of gender in Martin Heidegger’s thought and its relation to the fundamental components of his political philosophy. The principal research question concerns the transition from the Neutralität of Dasein in Heidegger’s early works to the emergence and consolidation of concepts such as woman, mother, and the peasant woman in his later thought, and the relationship of this transformation to his political philosophy. The study adopts a hermeneutic approach and an analytical-interpretive method, drawing on library research. An analysis of Heidegger’s early and later writings demonstrates that the Neutralität of Dasein in his early philosophy gives way, in his later thought, to determinate configurations in which woman is articulated through her relation to dwelling, earth, birth, the continuity of generations, and the constitution of a historical people. The findings indicate that the transition from the gender indeterminacy of Dasein to the stabilization of feminine roles is not merely a marginal shift in Heidegger’s conceptual framework; rather, it reflects the convergence of his ontology with the politics of identity, the historical community, and the privileging of the German people. Furthermore, the totalization of “woman” occurs when the openness of gendered possibilities is confined within a shared horizon of historical roles associated with childbirth, the preservation of the earth, and the transmission of historical inheritance. Accordingly, the political implications of Heidegger’s philosophy should be understood through his configuration of gender and its place within the project of his later thought.