Abstract: Heidegger’s foremost task in his early period was to query and question philosophy itself. In his early period in Freiburg, Heidegger defined philosophy not to obtain an “essence”, but to return to the origin of all theoretical and non-theoritical things — the historical life experience. It cannot be denied that through Heidegger’s early thought Phenomenology began to be concerned about the historical existence itself and realized the transition from “watching stage” to “listening stage”. Listening to history has become the constant direction of Heidegger’s philosophy that Heidegger would carry through his lifelong thinking. However, how to fulfill this kind of promise is probably a common problem for Heidegger and his successors and critics.

Key words: Heidegger, philosophy, life, history, listening