DARKEST OF TERMS
…the darkest of all terms – Martin Heidegger
According to Heidegger, philosophy must not expose everything to the blinding light of knowledge, but rather must recognize the importance of darkness. Light as well as darkness can blind. Philosophers must learn not to spurn the shadows – Karin Froese
When we hear the word “Being,” we are confused, and rightly demand clarification. We are irritated further when it’s not forthcoming. One can spend way too much time in search of a coherent definition of the word, something that makes sense and sends us on our way.
One is also defensive because on encountering the word and concept we are made aware of our lack of personal interest in the matter. We are compelled to face that we’ve not given the subject sufficient thought.
However odd and complex Heidegger’s philosophy is, it’s justified because it’s a lengthy, unrelenting search for a workable definition of a very abstract subject – the identity of Being.
We encounter beings everywhere; they surround us, carry and control us, enchant and fulfil us, elevate and disappoint us, but in all of this, where is and wherein consists the Being of beings? – Martin Heidegger
In “Being and Time” Heidegger asks about the meaning of being. This question remained unasked throughout the history of philosophy because of a presupposed understanding of what being "is" - Barbara Dalle Pezze
Metaphysics is in fact not only the epoch within which "the truth of Being’’ falls from memory. It remains forgotten – ibid
In Being and Time Heidegger asks about the meaning of being. This question remained unasked throughout the history of philosophy – ibid
Heidegger has not told us in so many words what Being is; but anyone who has read his text through has from it a concrete sense of Being quite different from anything that our philosophic tradition has so far brought to light – William Barrett
As he said, Being is not usually a question for us. In Being and Time, Heidegger addresses the ambiguity of the term and concept, conceding that Being is as a dark and obscure phenomenon. His solution to the problem is to redirect our focus to the rare individual who does ask about Being. Who poses the Question of Being and makes it important? In this sense his orientation is both Existential and Personalistic. After all, the question about the Questioner of Being is itself not completely clear. We don’t know a lot about this being, not much more than we know about Being. That’s why it is a good place to start.
Our ordinary human life moves within a preconceived understanding of Being, and it is this everyday understanding of Being in which we live, move, and have our Being that Heidegger wants to get at as a philosopher – William Barrett
Despite Heidegger’s insightful reorientation of focus, most readers simply threw the book across the room. What nonsense? What a fraud? So, it was with a great many philosophically inclined people, many of them eminent names in the field. Goodness, why bother with that abstract subject? I’ve better things to be getting on with. Somehow, the brass sensed where the Heideggerian road led, and it wasn’t to their liking.
Of course, the more patient and stoical reader doesn’t follow suit. There’s something genuinely intriguing about the mystery of Being. Although there’s no definite answer, there is a vital question to be asked about the nature of Being.
Simply put, it’s a question by a human about what it means to be human. In technical terms such a question is the province of ontology, the branch of philosophy dedicated to the understanding of Being. In English, the copula “is” indicates being or existence. This or that thing “is.” It is a being, or it has Being. There is a difference. Capitalized Being pertains not to things around us, to objects and entities, not to substance, but to where substance comes from. Something must come from somewhere. Metaphysics and Ontology were/are the philosophical disciplines meant to explore this subject and throw light on the matter. According to Heidegger, things fell apart right from the start. He wanted to know and explain why.
The Being of entities ‘is’ not itself an entity – Martin Heidegger
Being is not a being, because it is that which enables beings to be present to man and men to each other – William Richardson
Being is not an empty abstraction but something in which all of us are immersed up to our necks, and indeed over our heads…Far from being the most remote and abstract of concepts, Being is the most concrete and closest of presences; literally, the concern of every man – William Barrett
Things get less complicated when we replace the word Being with Reality or Existence. It helps make the question more Existential and makes the questioner central to the whole process of inquiry. What does he – Dasein – know about his existence? Forget the highfalutin Ontology and Metaphysics. How does one get to exist? How do we get to be here, and care about the Question of Being?
Germany’s greatest poet, Friedrich Holderlin, suggested that a playful dynamic exists between Being and beings. It is almost as if Being retracted itself in order to create an abscess within humans, that might finally inspire them to go in search of what was lost.
The blessed unity, Being in the only sense of the word, is lost to us and we had to lose it, if we were to strive for it, to gain it back – Friedrich Holderlin
It’s an idea that deeply inspired Heidegger. He referenced Holderlin more than any other person in history and was very concerned with the hidden meaning of high art and poetry, particularly that of men such as Holderlin and Rilke. Perhaps it was allusions from both these great poets that alerted him to the overarching but completely ignored question of Being. For Heidegger, the very Question of Being, when asked aright, leads to the essence of what it means to be human.
Being itself could not be experienced without a more original experience of the essence of man and vice versa – Martin Heidegger
