Introduction to Metaphysics by Martin Heidegger

Author:Martin Heidegger [Heidegger, Martin]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Publisher: Yale University Press
Published: 2014-04-09T16:00:00+00:00

3. Being and Thinking

The definitive dominance of the separation between “Being and thinking” in Western Dasein has already been pointed out more than once. Its predominance must have its ground in the essence of this separation, in what sets it apart from the two separations we have mentioned and also from the fourth. And so, at the very beginning, we would like to indicate what is proper to it. First, let us compare this separation with the two we have already discussed. In these, what is distinguished from Being comes to us from beings themselves. We find it before us in the domain of beings. We encounter not only becoming, but also seeming in beings as such (consider the rising and setting sun, the oft-mentioned stick that appears broken when dipped in water, and much else of this sort). Becoming and seeming lie on the same level, as it were, as the Being of beings.

{89}

However, in the separation between Being and thinking, not only is what is now distinguished from Being—that is, thinking—different in content from becoming and seeming, but the direction of the opposition is also essentially different. Thinking sets itself against Being in such a way that Being is re-presented to thinking, and consequently stands against thinking like an ob-ject <Gegen-stand, that which stands against>. This is not the case in the separations mentioned earlier. And now we can also see why this separation can attain predominance. It has the superior power, inasmuch as it does not set itself between and among the other three separations, but represents all of them to itself and thus, setting them before itself, envelops them, so to speak.23 Consequently, thinking is no longer just the opposing member in some new distinction, but becomes the basis and footing on which one decides about what stands against it, so much so that Being in general gets interpreted on the basis of thinking.

It is in this direction that we must assess the meaning of this particular separation in the context of our task. For at bottom we are asking how it stands with Being, how and on what basis it is brought to stand in its essence, how it is understood and conceived and set up as definitive.

In the seemingly irrelevant separation between Being and thinking we have to recognize that fundamental orientation of the spirit of the West that is the real target of our attack. It can be overcome only originally, that is, in such a way that its inceptive truth is shown its own limits and thereby founded anew.

From the point at which we currently stand in the course of our questioning, we can see something further. Earlier we made it clear that the word “Being,” contrary to popular opinion, has a thoroughly limited meaning. This implies that Being itself is understood in a definite way, and as something so understood, it is open to us. But every understanding, as a basic kind of opening-up, must move in a definite line of sight.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.