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The Claim of Language: a Phenomenological Approach

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The Claim of Language: a Phenomenological Approach THE CLAIM OF LANGUAGE: A PHENOMENOLOGICAL APPROACH by CAROLTI~SUECULBERTSON A DISSERTATION Presented to the Department ofPhilosophy and the Graduate School ofthe University of Oregon in partial fultilhllent ofthe requirements for the degree of Doctor ofPhilosophy June 2010 11 University of Oregon Graduate School Confirmation of Approval and Acceptance ofDissertation prepared by: Carolyn Culbertson Title: "The Claim ofLanguage: APhenomenological Approach" This dissertation has been accepted and approved in partial fulfillment ofthe requirements for the degree in the Department ofPhilosophy by: Scott Pratt, Co-Chairperson, Philosophy John Lysaker, Co-Chairperson, Philosophy Beata Stawarska, Member, Philosophy Peter Warnek, Member, Philosophy Jeffrey Librett, Outside Member, German and Scandinavian and Richard Linton, Vice President for Research and Graduate Studies/Dean ofthe Graduate School for the University of Oregon. June 14,2010 Original approval signatures are on file with the Graduate School and the University of Oregon Libraries. 111 © 2010 Carolyn Sue Culbelison IV An Abstract ofthe Dissertation of Carolyn Sue Culbertson for the degree of Doctor ofPhilosophy in the Department ofPhilosophy to be taken June 20 I0 Title: THE CLAIM OF LANGUAGE: A PHENOMENOLOGICAL APPROACH Approved: _ Dr. John Lysaker, Co-Chair Approved: _ Dr. Scott Pratt, Co-Chair This dissertation develops an interpretation ofMartin Heidegger's philosophical project in On the Way to Language and some ofhis earlier works that pave the way for this text and offers criticism of Heidegger's project in light ofthis interpretation. On the Way to Language stands apart from most twentieth century philosophy in arguing that, although human beings are within language in one sense, our relationship to language is nevertheless an estranged one. Heidegger often describes this condition as "lacking the word for the word." Because we are constantly speaking, we rarely ifever stop to wonder about the nature oflanguage itself. Heidegger calls this our "entanglement" within language, a concept rooted in Being and Time's exposition ofthe human being's thrownness. Read in terms oflanguage, thrownness describes how we inherit concepts and find ourselves entangled in words prior to our reflection upon them. --- ---------------- v Heidegger presents what motivates us to bring the word to word in two ways. First, this need is rooted in the human being's fundamental structure ofthrownness. Second, the need makes itselfmanifest through translation. My reading expands upon these two explanations ofhow we come to experience this entanglement, arguing that everyday communication regularly offers such experiences and demands that we modify, therefore temporarily distancing ourselves from, given language inheritances. The dissertation employs three other theorists, Roman Jakobson, Judith Butler, and Julia Kristeva, to flesh out how this need naturally arises in ordinary language development. Though he underestimates the extent to which everyday communicative situations require ongoing transformations ofordinary language, Heidegger nevertheless considers social encounters to be an important vehicle for language transformation. In this way, the goal ofbringing our thrownness into language to word is not to disentangle ourselves from social relations, as some commentators have suggested. The last chapter shows how Paul Celan's poetics, in its inheritance ofHeidegger's project, expands upon the role of social relations in language entanglement. VI CURRICULUM VITAE NAME OF AUTHOR: Carolyn Sue Culbertson PLACE OF BIRTH: Arlington, Texas DATE OF BIRTH: January 3, 1982 GRADUATE AND UNDERGRADUATE SCHOOLS ATTENDED: University of Oregon, Eugene Oglethorpe University, Atlanta, Georgia DEGREES AWARDED: Doctor ofPhilosophy, Philosophy, 2010, University of Oregon Master ofArts, Philosophy, 2007, University of Oregon Bachelor ofArts, Philosophy, 2004, Oglethorpe University AREAS OF SPECIAL INTEREST: Nineteenth and Twentieth Century Continental Philosophy Philosophy ofRhetoric Aesthetics Buddhist Philosophy PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE: Visiting Assistant Professor, DepaIiment ofPhilosophy, Elon University, 2010 2011 Instmctor and Graduate Teaching Fellow, Department ofPhilosophy, University ofOregon, 2004-2010 Instmctor, Composition PrograIll, University of Oregon, 2008-2010 Vll GRANTS, AWARDS AND HONORS: Research Grant, Gemlan Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), Albert-Ludwigs­ Universitat, Freiburg, Germany, 2009 Graduate Student Award tor Best Graduate Student Submission, Society for Phenomenological and Existential Philosophy (SPEP), 2009 Graduate Student Research Award, Philosophy Department, University of Oregon, 2009 George Rebec Prize for Best Graduate Student Essay, Philosophy Department, University of Oregon, 2007 James Edward Oglethorpe Scholarship, Oglethorpe University, 2000-2004 PUBLICAnONS: Culbertson, Carolyn. "The Pre-worldly Past: Nostalgia in Freudian Psychoanalysis." Philosophy Today (2010). Forthcorning Culbertson, Carolyn. "Finding Ourselves in Language: On the Theme ofLanguage in Heidegger's Unterwegs zur Sprache and Barthes' Literary Theory" in Heidegger Forum. Edited by David Espinat. Frankfurt am Main: Verlag Vittorio Klosterman, 2010. Forthcoming Culbertson, Carolyn. "Ordinary Mind and the 1I1umonkan." Comparative and Continental Philosophy Journal (2010). Forthcoming V111 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This project came about through the influence ofa number ofpeople whom I would like to thank. First, I would like to thank John Lysaker for the comprehensive guidance he gave me on the project. The development ofmy argument greatly benefited from his thoughtful criticism of each chapter. Next, I would like to express my gratitude to Peter Wamek, Beata Stawarska, and Jeffrey Librett for their advice on the project early on, as well as for the seminars and reading groups over the years that directly inspired this work. Thanks are due to the entire community offaculty and graduate students at the University ofOregon for creating a philosophical environment conducive to exploration and critical inquiry, but special thanks go to Miles Hentrup and Sarah Adams for their continued support and encouragement ofmy work. Beyond the University of Oregon, I also benefited from my time as a visiting researcher at Albert-Ludwigs-Universitat in Freiburg, Germany, a trip made possible by a grant from the Deutscher Akademischer Austausch Dienst, and from courses and conversations at the 2007 meeting ofthe Collegium Phaenomenologiclilll in Umbria, Italy, IX To my sisters and my mother, through whom I am perpetually finding language and joy. x TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Page 1. FINDING OURSELVES IN LANGUAGE: HEIDEGGER AND THE LINGUISTIC TURN 1 Thinking and Speaking Through Entanglement 4 Undergoing the Event of Language 10 To Say Nothing Except What Can Be Said 14 The Absurdity ofRenunciation, The Silence ofLanguage 27 II. SOCIAL BEING AND AUTHENTICITY: INHERITING LANGUAGE WITH OTHERS 37 De-distancing Our Being-with-others 39 Thrownness and Facticity 45 Translating What Is One's Own 55 Tracks ofInterpretation, Voices Underway.......................................................... 68 III. TRACES OF ABSORPTION ON THE WAY TO LANGUAGE 85 The Lil11its ofMastery 89 Transference and the Rlletorical Structure ofthe Performative "I" 106 A Phenomenology ofMelancholy........................................................................ 118 Xl Chapter Page IV. OPENING THE WORD: BETWEEN HEIDEGGER AND CELAN'S POETICS 130 Poetic Founding in "The Origin ofthe Work ofAli" 134 The Origin1essness ofLanguage in Paul Ce1an' s Poetics 151 V. EPILOGUE: THE CLAIM OF LANGUAGE 171 BIBLIOGRAPHY 177 1 CHAPTER I FINDING OURSELVES IN LANGUAGE: HEIDEGGER AND THE LINGUISTIC TURN~ When one speaks ofthe philosophy oflanguage, Heidegger is probably not the first figure that comes to mind. In fact, one cannot locate any definition oflanguage in Heidegger's work, let alone a sustained description ofthe qualities, modes, and rules which would distinguish it from other phenomena. What's more, the prospect ofbringing Heidegger's engagement with Sprache (language) into conversation with language theorists from other traditions seems like an awkward effort motivated by no more than a coincidence ofwords. Is it not foolish to insist on a dialogue between figures on the basis ofthe fact that they use the same word? Why not admit that, for example, Saussure and Heidegger are addressing two entirely different matters and limit Heidegger's comparators to other explicitly ontological thinkers like Aristotle or Hegel? Indeed, Heidegger sought to speak about language in a way that systematically departed from the philosophical history ofthe word. Though this effort can be tracked throughout the series oflectures and essays that comprise On the Way to Language, an instructive example can be found in the "Dialogue on Language" (1953-4). In this exchange, Heidegger discusses with Professor Tezuka whether there is a word in Japanese for language. The richness ofthe dialogue hinges on the thoughtful way in which Tezuka responds to the question. After much consideration, Tezuka appears to tlnd his answer in what we are inclined to perceive as a sensuous image: Koto ba.! He offers it, however, not as an image but, he says, as a hint. The enthusiasm Heidegger displays in response to Tezuka's answer is revealing for lmderstanding where his interest in language 1 It is paliicularly difficult to give a summary explanation ofthis phrase. Tezuka fIrst notes that ba means
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