Christopher Gabro - Heidegger

Jumping off our discussion the way in which Heidegger talks about language and the way in which it has the power to unconcealed, I want to turn in the way which we use words.  A couple of decades ago, philosophy saw the linguistic turn where philosopher started to attempt to talk about language by using language itself.  Martin Heidegger in his essay “What Calls for Thinking,” the title translates in multiple ways that is part of the trick Heidegger is pulling.  Heidegger wants to show that language has multiple uses and words can change depending on the word that comes before and after it.  For Heidegger, language is a fundamental root in our temporal being and it should be a preeminent reminder of our relationship with beings and death.

In his more famous text, “The Origin of the Work of Art,” Heidegger explains that there are two ways in which things can be brought forth physis, what comes forward on its own and techne, what is brought forth from another.  Heidegger shows how the things that are brought forward by nature have been “enframed,” a contemporary technological standing-reserve; everything has a pre-determined use and a value that is derived from that use.  Is there a way in which we can escape this pernicious force?  Or are we resigned to its power?