Philosophy and Poetry: The Meaning of History in Heidegger’s Thought DOMINIC KELLY A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the Manchester Metropolitan University for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Politics, Philosophy and Public Services The Manchester Metropolitan University March 2014 Abstract This thesis is concerned with the turning that occurs in the work of Martin Heidegger (1889-1976). It seeks to reveal it as a turning that takes place within the notion of history as it is elaborated by Heidegger in the difference between Nietzsche and Hölderlin, that is, in the difference between philosophy and poetizing. To this end, the thesis attempts to unify two themes within the interpretation of Heidegger‟s work which have, in the face of the vast corpus of secondary literature, found but little attention: the first concerns the move from Nietzsche to Hölderlin and thus from a purely philosophical discourse towards an investigation of thought as otherwise than metaphysical; the second concerns the Nietzschean heritage in this move – namely, the explication of a properly historical dimension of thought. The first chapter examines Heidegger‟s retrieval of the question of being, as it is this task that motivates the whole of Heidegger‟s work and therefore serves to elucidate the trajectory of this thesis. The second and third chapters are concerned with Heidegger‟s engagement with the problem of nihilism as it is expressed in the thought of Friedrich Nietzsche, as it is due to the necessity to distance his thought from Nietzsche‟s that can be located Heidegger‟s turn to poetry as a way of opening up a properly historical dimension to thought that lies beyond metaphysics. In the fourth chapter I examine Heidegger‟s turn to art insofar as he sees in it the redemptive possibility of challenging nihilism in its modern, technological manifestation. Art will be seen in its essence as revelatory of truth and thereby as able to originate history anew. The fifth chapter deals with poetry as both the most fundamental mode of art and the essence of language; a privileged position that marks it out as the most likely source of Western humanity once more living with a properly historical sense of itself. The sixth chapter deals with the poetry of Friedrich Hölderlin as the location for a decision about whether poetry is able to open up a new historical time or whether it is simply harmless and ineffectual. The conclusion addresses the Nietzschean heritage in the movement of Heidegger‟s thought as it is outlined here. 2 Acknowledgements This thesis is dedicated to my parents, George and Helen Kelly, for their steadfast support and encouragement without which I would not have been able to complete it. It is also dedicated to my partner Caroline and daughter Esther for their love and support. I am also indebted to Dr. Ullrich Haase for his guidance and forbearance, and to Manchester Metropolitan University for the award of a Research Studentship. 3 Table of Contents List of Abbreviation............................................................................................................7 Introduction..................................................................................................................... ....9 Chapter One The Question of Being ............................................................................... 18 1.1 The Necessity of Linking Truth and Being through Dasein .............................. 20 Crisis in the Sciences: The Necessity for a Reinterpretation of Truth and Being .... 20 Phenomenology ......................................................................................................... 26 Truth.......................................................................................................................... 29 Dasein ....................................................................................................................... 36 1.2 The Seinsfrage ................................................................................................... 44 Chapter Two Nietzsche and the Threat of Nihilism ..................................................... 52 Introduction ................................................................................................................... 53 2.1 Nietzsche and the Problem of Nihilism .................................................................. 54 Why Nietzsche? ......................................................................................................... 54 Nihilism as History ................................................................................................... 56 2.2 Nietzsche as Physician ............................................................................................ 64 Will to Power ............................................................................................................ 66 The Overhuman......................................................................................................... 71 2.3 Nietzsche as Metaphysician .................................................................................... 74 2.4 Questions Concerning Heidegger‟s Interpretation of Nietzsche ............................ 82 Chapter Three The Possibility of an Other Beginning .................................................. 86 Introduction ................................................................................................................... 87 3.1 The End of Metaphysics and the Possibility of an Other Beginning ...................... 88 Ereignis ..................................................................................................................... 88 Gelassenheit .............................................................................................................. 97 4 3.2 Physis: Being as Presencing ................................................................................... 99 Original Echoes of the Concept of Physis .............................................................. 101 Aristotle and Physis ................................................................................................ 104 Physis, Techne and the Question of Technology .................................................... 108 Chapter Four The Work of Art .................................................................................... 115 Introduction ................................................................................................................. 116 4.1 Hegel: Truth as a Function of Art ......................................................................... 118 4.2 How Art Originates Truth ..................................................................................... 121 4.3 How History is established in the Artwork ........................................................... 129 4.4 The Transformative Nature of the Artwork .......................................................... 134 World and Earth ..................................................................................................... 134 Preservation of the Artwork .................................................................................... 138 Chapter Five Language as the House of Being ............................................................ 144 Introduction ................................................................................................................. 145 5.1 Language: The House of Being ............................................................................ 146 The Need for a Reappraisal of how Language Works ............................................ 146 A Traditional View of Language ............................................................................. 148 Language as the Advent of Being ........................................................................... 150 Language as the Ground of Historical Dasein ....................................................... 160 5.2 The Poetic Word as the Ground of Being ............................................................. 170 The Poetic as Ethical .............................................................................................. 173 Chapter Six Hölderlin and the Possibility of Poetry ................................................... 180 6.1 Why Hölderlin?..................................................................................................... 181 6.2 How does one approach Hölderlin‟s Poetic Word? .............................................. 189 6.3 Poetic Revelation as the Grounding of the History of Dasein .............................. 196 6.4 Hölderlin‟s Word as the Fate of the West............................................................. 208 6.5 The Geviert ........................................................................................................... 215 5 Conclusion.......................................................................................................................219 Bibliography....................................................................................................................225 6 List of Abbreviations GA Gesamtausgabe (Collected Works), Frankfurt: Klosterman, 1975-. BQP Basic Questions of Philosophy: Selected „Problems‟ of „Logic‟, trans. R Rojcewicz & A Schuwer. Indianapolis: Indiana UP, 2004. BT Being and Time, trans. Macquarrie and Robinson. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing Ltd, 1962. BW Basic Writings, trans. & ed. David Farrell Krell. London: