Reading Group (week 1), "Contributions to Philosophy": Analysis, section 2

Question of being = Question of the truth of be-ing: grounding question, as opposed to the guiding question of philosophy, the question about beings. [...] how be-ing hold sway (wie das Seyn west). I feel that the german verb west used by Heidegger, is key to the understanding of the Contributions. Wesen has been used to translate essentia, but its first meaning, says Jean Beaufret in a note to the translation of Das Wesen der Sprache is lasting, stay with (sojourn), unfolding (deploy) of its being or way of being. We can say that beings are, but we cannot say that being is. Thus being west, opens itself to let see beings while staying itself invisible. Being let something come to the fore while it retract itself: i think this is why the translators of the Contributions used sway and swaying; there is in fact a kind of "sway" in Being.

Going against metaphysics: be-ing can no longer be thought of in the perspective of beings; it must be enthought (erdacht) from within be-ing itself. About "er", that was rendered by "en" see translators note on "Er": it has the meanings of "achieving", "enhancing", "carrying forth". So "enthinking" is more than just "thinking": it's a thinking that has been carried thoroughly through.

Abground (Abgrund): "Der Ab-grund ist Ab-grund." (Heidegger!) Note from translator: Ab-grund is a ground that prevails while staying away. Steadfastness (Beständigkeit) (constancy). This thinking-saying [...] never lets itself become a doctrine [...] but such thinking-saying directs the few [...]. Heidegger elitist? -I don't think so, but it is true that Dasein is most often a Wegsein: man is not there, he's on an escape mode, because of the passing of time, because of death; he wants to forget, forget himself in objects. Therefore, we have a few, that can truly understand.

[...] can not-granting (the not-character of be-ing) become in the extreme the remotest en-ownment [...] To know be-ing's essential sway as enowning means not only to know the danger of not-granting, but also to be ready for the overcoming. Because this is all so far ahead , the first thing here continues to be: to put be-ing into question.

[...] everyone tries to explain "my" attempt merely historically [historisch] and appeals to the past, which he thinks he grasps because it seems already to lie behind him. With Heidegger we know that the past is more often ahead of us.

[...] the happening of the truth of be-ing must be transposed from the first beginning into the other, so that the wholly other song of be-ing sounds in the playing-forth (Zuspiel).

Opposition Geschichte (authentical)/Historie (inauthentical): And thus what is happening everywhere here is really history [Geschichte], which remains out of reach of what is merely historical [das Historische] [...].

Reading Group (week 1), "Contributions to Philosophy": Analysis, section 1

The questioning in Contributions to Philosophy follows a pathway traced out by the crossing to the other beginning, into which Western thinking is now entering. The crossing is perhaps a very long sojourn, according to Heidegger. The other beginning of thinking is only for now an intimation.

The Contributions to Philosophy are not yet able to join the free jointure (opposite of system) of the truth of be-ing out of be-ing itself. Essential sway: Wesen. Essential swaying: Wesung (verbal sense: essencing). Enquivering: Erzitterung, a word used later to "define" Being. This enquivering will determine the jointure of the work of thinking. This enquivering grows stronger, becoming the power of a gentle release into the intimacy (Innigkeit) to the godding (Götterung) of the god of gods[...] We must attempt the thinking-saying (denkerische Sagen) of philosophy which comes from an other beginning. This saying is special, as according to Heidegger it doesn't describe or explain, proclaim or teach; rather the saying itself is the "to be said". [Sounding, Echo] = Anklang, has to be brought closer to Erzitterung [enquivering], both referring to vibration and sound (as opposed to vision (eidos, Idea): Plato).

Hint (Winkes), see note on Wink and winken in Unterwegs zur Sprache, the discussion with the Japanese: winken is saying something without words, like to give somebody a "wink"; it is important to forget the word as sign, to focus the attention to what is brought to the fore, what is shown, i.e. forget the word and grasp the idea (Tchouang-tseu). What is most question-worty (Fragwürdigsten): Being.

The time of "systems" is over. Re-building the essential shaping of beings according to the truth of be-ing [...] The (crucial) task of philosophy in the crossing: projecting-open, i.e., the grounding enopening of the free-play of the time-space of the truth of be-ing (!). A difficult phrase indeed! The german look simpler: den Entwurf, d. h. die gründende Eröffnung des Zeit-Spiel-Raumes der Wahrheit des Seynes. This phrase is very important and we will come back on it later. Heidegger is just adding that we have no indication how this task is to be done.

Thinking in the crossing accomplishes the grounding projecting-open (gründenden Eröffnung) of the truth of be-ing as historical mindfulness. History (Geschichte) is that which first awakens and effects thinking-questioning (as the site of its decisions). Thinking, links with "thank" and "remember": thinking-questioning is a "remembering"-questioning, a "thankful"-questioning. Mindfulness: Besinnung, a reflection different from the one in science, reflecting on its own standpoint; an originary way of awareness.

Thinking in the crossing = dialogue. In that dialogue brings to word the essential sway of be-ing, which has remained unquestioned until now. The outline of the Contributions is designed to prepare for the crossing (Heidegger).

Reading Group (week 1), "Contributions to Philosophy": Analysis, section 0

For Heidegger, no "progress" in philosophy. The genuine relation to the word has been destroyed. By what? -Publicity? No, this is an "event" in the History of Being, an "event" sent (schicken) by Be-ing; man doesn't seem directly responsible for it. Saying that man is responsible for it is saying again that he has power over beings (being master and center), and can reverse the event depending upon his will, but the will of man is powerless here. Did the Greeks had this genuine relation with the word? Plato: instrumental view of language = no. Maybe the ones before Socrates.

We are in an age of crossing, from metaphysics into be-ing-historical thinking. There can be only attempts to think according to a more originary basic stance. En-thought, er-denken. Heidegger: Future thinking is a thinking that is underway. The task is: being owned over into enowning = essential transformation of the human from "rational animal" to Da-sein. Da-sein: man become the "there" of being; not the same Dasein as in "Being and Time", being has precedence over man (understood as "rational animal"). The proper title: From Enowning, indicates a thinking-saying that belongs to be-ing's word (das Wort des Seyns).