The last God is the most enigmatic figure of the Contributions to Philosophy (from Enowning),
the complex posthumous work by Heidegger. The present essay tries to show how in
that work important speculative questions are present and how, at the same time, the possibility
for differently thinking “ethos” is announced. Heidegger delineates the last God profile,
employing a rich texture of recalls, where the legacy of ancient Greek “sophia” and the
poetry of Hölderlin are intermingled. The nietzschean “death of God”, biblical tradition,
mystic and theological echoes and early Christianity are also recognizable. It is principally
announced the oscillation between “ flight and arrival” of the last God, the instantaneous
passage that has in its absence the most sensible sign of his transit. From the self-refusal
and from an arriving that is at the same time a past that has never been present and a future
that is always postponed, the paradoxical measure for an “original ethic” is delineated.
Moreover, through the last God, the question of “Ereignis” – “Leitfaden” of the Contributions
but also of the whole heideggerian thought – is faced in a more effective way.
