Date: Thu, 14 May 1998 19:49:56 +0200
From: Henk van Tuijl <Henk.van.Tuijl-AT-net.HCC.nl>
Subject: Re: Language?


Henry Sholar wrote:
[...] what does it mean that "being is the centre of our being"?  it
sounds like a bumper sticker.

Henry, about Heidegger's bumper sticker: Being is the hearth because the
essence of Being for the Greeks is _phusis_ :

"[...] das von sich aus aufgehende Leuchten, das durch nichts anderes
vermittelt, sondern selbst die Mitte ist. Diese Mitte ist das
anfaenglich Bleibende und alles Umsichsammelnde - jenes, worin alles
Seiende seine Staette hat und als Seiende heimisch ist" (GA53:140).

Very roughly: [_Phusis_ is] the light that shines of its own accord,
that is not mediated by anything else, but is itself the centre. This
centre is what fundamentally remains and what gathers everything around
itself - it is that in which all being has its place and is at home as
being.

Rereading the above... I am not sure that it deserves recommendation to
append explanatory texts to bumper stickers.

Kindest regards,
Henk



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