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Jan Zwicky and Martin Heidegger: the Ethic Ality and Ontology of the Clearing

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Jan Zwicky and Martin Heidegger: the Ethic Ality and Ontology of the Clearing JAN ZWICKY AND MARTIN HEIDEGGER: THE ETHIC ALITY AND ONTOLOGY OF THE CLEARING A Thesis Submitted to the Committee on Graduate Studies in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in the Faculty of Arts and Science TRENT UNIVERSITY Peterborough, Ontario, Canada © Copyright by Eben Hensby 2011 Theory, Culture and Politics M.A. Graduate Program October 2011 Library and Archives Bibliotheque et 1*1 Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de I'edition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A 0N4 Ottawa ON K1A 0N4 Canada Canada Your file Votre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-81105-4 Our file Notre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-81105-4 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non­ L'auteur a accorde une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library and permettant a la Bibliotheque et Archives Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par telecommunication ou par I'lnternet, preter, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des theses partout dans le loan, distribute and sell theses monde, a des fins commerciales ou autres, sur worldwide, for commercial or non­ support microforme, papier, electronique et/ou commercial purposes, in microform, autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. The author retains copyright L'auteur conserve la propriete du droit d'auteur ownership and moral rights in this et des droits moraux qui protege cette these. Ni thesis. Neither the thesis nor la these ni des extraits substantiels de celle-ci substantial extracts from it may be ne doivent etre imprimes ou autrement printed or otherwise reproduced reproduits sans son autorisation. without the author's permission. In compliance with the Canadian Conformement a la loi canadienne sur la Privacy Act some supporting forms protection de la vie privee, quelques may have been removed from this formulaires secondaires ont ete enleves de thesis. cette these. While these forms may be included Bien que ces formulaires aient inclus dans in the document page count, their la pagination, it n'y aura aucun contenu removal does not represent any loss manquant. of content from the thesis. 1+1 Canada ABSTRACT: Jan Zwicky and Martin Heidegger: The Ethicality and Ontology of the Clearing Eben Hensby This thesis stages an encounter between two philosophers who, through their unique takes on both truth and language, turn to poetry as a philosophically important endeavour. Martin Heidegger and Jan Zwicky are brought together to help articulate the conviction that an important place for future thought is to be found in the site of, what Heidegger calls, the clearing. Within an encounter of a thinking of Being and lyric philosophy, intricately connected with metaphoricity, this thesis shows connections between language, truth, poetry, and the clearing. Through looking at the ontological and ethical dimensions of the clearing with a hermeneutic, epochal approach, I show how the nature of the clearing affects other dimensions, such as the political, the perceptual, the human and the animal. I argue that a theorization of the clearing is intimately tied to the practice of listening and to what it is that constitutes a 'voice.' ii Keywords: Heidegger; Zwicky; the clearing; lyric; domesticity; metaphor; poetry; philosophy; hermeneutics; epochal historicity; listening; the perceptual; animality; the human; gestalt; aspects; Ranciere; ontological attention; language; truth; beings; thisness; ethicality; ontology; responsibility. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: I would like to thank Trent University for offering this amazing program, as my thought has been greatly furthered by the Theory, Culture and Politics program. This thesis would not be without the assistance of my colleagues, with whom I found myself having, even if at times hidden, intense conversations with throughout the thesis. Nor could this thesis have been done without help from my professors, in particular Doug Torgerson and Andrew Wernick, as well as the rest of the faculty for TCP. Conversations with Mark Dickinson about Jan Zwicky helped me along the way; he also helped point me towards Dennis Lee's piece on George Grant, and gave me a better way to articulate the Enlightenment 'block.' Bradley Bryan, from my time at the University of Victoria, secretly planted in me insights which I am still working through. Thank you to Nancy Legate for all your hard work. Thanks to my family for their unending support as I continue to pursue the projects that I do. I also thank my friends not at Trent for their support over the years. In particular, I wish to thank Noah Ross, for musings on place, and Jarrad Reddekop, for pointing to a mountain peak and awakening in me the desire to try to see it for myself. I must also offer full-hearted thanks to my committee: to my external Jim Vernon; to David Holdsworth, whose humbleness and insight always impress me; and to my supervisor Emilia Angelova, who, with gentie insight and endless support, helped guide me through the unknown rapids. Without your support, this thesis would not have come as far as it has. And, finally, I wish to thank Meg Grieve, without whom this project would have taken a completely different, and lesser path: thank you for encouraging me. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Abstract ii Acknowledgements iv Table of Contents v Introduction 1 I. An Introduction to the Arguments 2 n. An Introduction to Jan Zwicky 10 m. The Arguments and Foti 29 IV. An Introduction to Zwicky and Heidegger 33 1. Jan Zwicky: Lyric and Domesticity 41 I Truth, Ontology, Language i. Lyric and Analytic 43 ii. Within Language, and Yet, Beyond 57 iii. Domesticity 72 II. Phenomenology of Time and Loss iv. Onto-Phenomenological, Aesthetic, and Moral Claims 80 v. Loss and Mortality: Absence and Presence 83 vi. Time and Narrative 87 m. Political Implications 90 2. Martin Heidegger: Language 104 I. Language i. Understanding and Interpretation 105 ii. Language (Discourse) 110 iii. The Roots of Language 114 n. Poetry iv. Preparatory Remarks on "Language" 122 v. Language and Poetry 125 vi. Poetry, the Holy, the Fourfold 131 III. Heidegger's Language 136 3. Martin Heidegger: Truth 140 I. Truth i. Truth 141 ii. Heidegger and the Allegory 148 iii. The Truth of Aletheia? 152 II. Truth and Language iv. Truth and Language: The Clearing and the Animal 157 v. The Truth of Worlds and Dwelling 165 III. Disclosures vi. Ways of Disclosure: Technology 172 vii. Ways of Disclosure: Art 180 viii. Metaphysics 183 V 4. Heidegger and Zwicky: Language, Truth, An Encounter of 'Worlds' 186 I. The Gatherings i. The Gatherings of Language 190 ii. The Gatherings of Beings 194 U. The Human and the Animal iii. What-Is: The Human and the Animal 201 iv. Animals and Animal Rationale 210 m. How One Attends to What-Is v. Attending 225 vi. Art as a Site of Listening 231 IV. The Enlightenment: Stopping Too Soon 236 Conclusion 253 Works Cited 269 Other Works, Consulted 273 VI 1 Introduction In this thesis, we will look at the intersections in thought between poet- philosopher Jan Zwicky and philosopher Martin Heidegger. Specifically, I wish to look at their respective differences on the role and formulation of language, truth, and poetry. This thesis will frame the discussion within the confines of attempting to view how each thinker conceptualizes the idea of listening, with poetry as a 'form' of listening. This idea of listening allows us to additionally interrogate the 'proper' place, the essence, of the human in relation to, for example, the world, animals, and beings; to this end, this thesis will emphasize the essentiality of the clearing. Listening not only connects with home­ coming, as both thinkers think that we have strayed from our home, it also connects with responsibility and ethics. In the midst of the threat of an all-encompassing technological development, we learn to respond; we learn to listen. Central to all of this are these two thinkers' respective views on language and truth, which enable us to bring into focus then- views on poetry. I am, then, building on their views of language and truth to see how poetry connects to the overarching theme of listening, as encompassed by the clearing. It is important to note at the outset that the arguments we discuss here in this introduction will generally not be more fully explored until the final chapter: chapters one, two, and three are preparatory chapters for the final chapter. This means that I may appear to be moving quickly in this introduction. In fact, the clearing will be mostly absent, in any overt sense, from chapters one and two: it will be most strongly elaborated in chapter three, in relation to Heidegger and truth. For chapters one to three, my main 2 concern is to draw forth the worlds of, first, Zwicky and, second, of Heidegger. Upon drawing these forward, I will in chapter four narrow our gaze to the clearing. In addition, although I may assume that the reader has some, even if distant, familiarity with Heidegger, the same cannot be assumed regarding Zwicky. This introduction is structured into four sections such that we will begin with (1) an overview of the arguments to be made, proceed to (2) an introduction of Zwicky, before turning to (3) an alternate framing of the argument through the lens of Veronique Foti's arguments in her book Heidegger and the Poets. We will conclude this introduction with (4) a preliminary look at the overt intersections between Heidegger and Zwicky. L An Introduction to the Arguments One of the major sites of thought in this thesis involves our working through what Heidegger calls the clearing ; all of our subsequent concerns can be seen to branch off from this primary rethinking.
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