Abstract
This essay is a contribution to the reflection on difference, equality, and their mutual relation. Its core is an interpretation of a passage from one of Heidegger’s lecture courses on Heraclitus (Heidegger 1987). We have chosen to devote much of the available space to a close reading of this passage in the context of Heidegger’s thinking, and to forego its wider contextualization within the rich discussion of the aforesaid concepts in the phenomenological tradition and in the broader philosophical field. The reason for this choice is that, in our view, what Heidegger’s approach can bring to the reflection on difference and equality — and thus on the issue of “humanism”1 — is in large part yet to be explored, and that its scope and implications in both theoretical and ethical terms have the potential for a much broader impact on contemporary debates. [...]