On Mon, 30 Oct 1995, Laurence Paul Hemming wrote:
> Date: Mon, 30 Oct 1995 12:34:42 -0000
> From: Laurence Paul Hemming <laurence@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> To: "'heidegger@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx'"
<heidegger@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Subject: Heidegger's use of the word "polis"
>
> Dear Mr. Rickey
>
> On 26th October you wrote:
>
> He also says in his lectures in the 30's and 40's that he is
> writing "politics" in the essential sense when he is doing philosophy;
> the polis is the pole around which all things revolve, which means that
> the polis is the same as Being.
>
> I am most interested in what you have written. I wonder, could you give some references please?
>
> Yours sincerely,
> Laurence Hemming.
>
Sure. In GA 53, Heidegger writes, "The polis is polos, that is, the
pole, the whirlpool, in which and around which everything turns." On the
same page he adds, "Thus polis means so much as 'state.'" So far, no
surprises. Then he says, "it is neither merely state, nor city, but
rather first and foremost 'the site': the site of the human historical
abode of man in the middle of beings." This site is for the most part
the same as the site Heidegger later calls the site of the gathering of
the fourfold, and earlier, a work of art. Out of this site arises the
manner and way of all beings, or what Heidegger had called the worlding
of worlds and later the thinging of things, out of which all relations of
man to beings is determined. In short, the polis is the site of the
being of beings as a whole.
I need to make one interpretive move clear. Although we need to make
clear a distinction between being and beings, being is not a thing other
than beings; it is the event of beings as what they are. Heidegger would
substitute clearing for being, clearing as the site and topos of being.
The site of being is the clearing of being which manifests itself as the
being of beings. Thus I would say that the polis is being.
Chris
--- from list heidegger@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx ---
------------------
> Date: Mon, 30 Oct 1995 12:34:42 -0000
> From: Laurence Paul Hemming <laurence@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> To: "'heidegger@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx'"
<heidegger@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Subject: Heidegger's use of the word "polis"
>
> Dear Mr. Rickey
>
> On 26th October you wrote:
>
> He also says in his lectures in the 30's and 40's that he is
> writing "politics" in the essential sense when he is doing philosophy;
> the polis is the pole around which all things revolve, which means that
> the polis is the same as Being.
>
> I am most interested in what you have written. I wonder, could you give some references please?
>
> Yours sincerely,
> Laurence Hemming.
>
Sure. In GA 53, Heidegger writes, "The polis is polos, that is, the
pole, the whirlpool, in which and around which everything turns." On the
same page he adds, "Thus polis means so much as 'state.'" So far, no
surprises. Then he says, "it is neither merely state, nor city, but
rather first and foremost 'the site': the site of the human historical
abode of man in the middle of beings." This site is for the most part
the same as the site Heidegger later calls the site of the gathering of
the fourfold, and earlier, a work of art. Out of this site arises the
manner and way of all beings, or what Heidegger had called the worlding
of worlds and later the thinging of things, out of which all relations of
man to beings is determined. In short, the polis is the site of the
being of beings as a whole.
I need to make one interpretive move clear. Although we need to make
clear a distinction between being and beings, being is not a thing other
than beings; it is the event of beings as what they are. Heidegger would
substitute clearing for being, clearing as the site and topos of being.
The site of being is the clearing of being which manifests itself as the
being of beings. Thus I would say that the polis is being.
Chris
--- from list heidegger@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx ---
------------------