What is Metaphysics? E-Book

Martin Heidegger

• Herausgeber: Jovian Press
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 31

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2018

Beschreibung

Martin Heidegger was a German philosopher and a seminal thinker in the Continental tradition and philosophical hermeneutics. According to the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, he is "widely acknowledged to be one of the most original and important philosophers of the 20th century". Heidegger is best known for his contributions to phenomenology and existentialism, though as the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy cautions, "his thinking should be identified as part of such philosophical movements only with extreme care and qualification".

Leseprobe

WHAT IS METAPHYSICS?

Martin Heidegger

JOVIAN PRESS

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Copyright © 2016 by Martin Heidegger

Published by Jovian Press

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ISBN: 9781537800370

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

PART ONE: UNFOLDING A METAPHYSICAL QUESTION

PART TWO WORKING OUT THE QUESTION

PART THREE ANSWERING THE QUESTION

CONCLUSION

INTRODUCTION

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THE QUESTION “WHAT IS METAPHYSICS?” might lead one to expect a general discussion about metaphysics, but we waive that in order to discuss one specificmetaphysicalquestion.Thisistheway,itseems,toletourselvesbetransported directly into metaphysics, and the only way to give metaphysics the possibility of properly introducing itself tous.

We carry out this project by first unfolding ametaphysical question, then working it out, and finally answering it.

PART ONE: UNFOLDING A METAPHYSICAL QUESTION

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AS HEGEL SAYS, WHEN SOUND common sense looks at philosophy, it sees “the world turned upside down.” So the peculiar nature of our undertaking demands some preparatory remarks. They come from the twofold character of metaphysicalquestioning.

THE TWOFOLD CHARACTER OF METAPHYSICAL QUESTIONING

First, each metaphysical question always encompasses the whole problematicofmetaphysicsandinfactisthewholeofmetaphysics.Secondly,toask any metaphysical question, the questioner as such must also be present in the question, i.e., must be put inquestion.

From this we conclude that metaphysical questions must be posed (1) in terms of the whole and (2) always fromthe essential situation of the existence that asks the question. Right now we are asking about ourselves. Within this community of scholars, teachers, and students, our human existence is determinedbyscience.Whensciencebecomes ourpassion,somethingessentialoccurs with us in the very grounds of our existence – but what exactly?

THE THREEFOLD STRUCTURE OF SCIENTIFIC QUESTIONING

Thefieldsofsciencearequitedistinct,andtheirrespectivemethodsforinvestigating objects are fundamentally different. Nowadays the only thingthat unites the expanding array of disciplines and gives them some coherence is the technical organization of universities and their departments, along with the practical goals set by each discipline. But even so, the sciences have lost their rootedness in their essential ground.

Relation-to-the-world. Nonetheless, when we follow the inner trajectory of any given science, we always relate to what-is. In the view of science, no one field has priority over another – not history over nature or nature over history – nor does any one method for investigating objects take precedence over another. Mathematical knowledge is no more rigorous than philological-historical knowledge. It merely has the character of “exactness,” which is not the same as rigor. To demand exactness from historical studies is to violate the idea of rigor thatisspecifictothehumanities.Therelation-to-the-worldthatgovernseveryscience qua science lets the sciences pursue beings and make them, in their whatness and howness, an object of research, definition, and grounding. The ideal of the sciences is to help us achieve an approximation to the essence of allthings.

Orientation.