Year

2003

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Publication

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Chronology Entries (1)

#	Year	Text	Linked Data
1	1935-1959	Heidegger, Martin. Unterwegs zur Sprache (1959) ; Aus einem Gespräch von der Sprache (1953-1954) ; Bremer und Freiburger Vorträge (1949 / 1957) ; Die Technik und die Kehre (1962) ; Holzwege (1935) ; Vorträge und Aufsätze (1954). Heidegger schreibt in Aus einem Gespräch von der Sprache : "Vor einiger Zeit nannte ich, unbeholfen genug, die Sprache das Haus des Seins. Wenn der Mensch durch seine Sprache im Anspruch des Seins wohnt, dann wohnen wir Europäer vermutlich in einem ganz anderen Haus als der ostasiatische Mensch." "So bleibt denn ein Gespräch von Haus zu Haus beinahe unmöglich." Chan Wing-cheuk : Heidegger's thinking about the essence of technology is a fruit of his dialogue with East Asian thought. According to Heidegger, the problem with the age of technology is shown in 'the poverty of essential relations'. Generally, for him, one of most distinctive marks of such a poverty of essential relations is reflected in the 'forgetfulness of Being'. Obviously, from the very beginning, Heidegger has identified technology as a way of revelation of Being. He urges 'a dialogue with the Greek thinkers', which he takes to be 'the precondition of the inevitable dialogue with the East Asian world'. Despite the fact that both the Greek and Taoist thinkers had no knowledge of modern technology, their insight into the Being of 'techne' remains a source for our understanding of the essential origin of the world of modern technology and its possible reversal. Certainly, as Heidegger emphasized, a dialogue with the Greek thinkers does not imply a modern renaissance of the ancients. It is true that Heidegger openly stressses that the overcoming of modern technology 'cannot come by appropriating Buddhism or other eastern experiences'. Nevertheless, in his actual thinking of the essence of modern technology, he needs not only the help of the European tradition, but also the help of Taoism. First of all, like 'techne' in the Greek world, modern technology, for Heidegger, 'its a revealing'. But in opposition, the 'revealing' that rules in modern technology, is a challenging (Herausfordern). This is to say, in the age of modern technolgoy, everything is no longer an 'object' (Gegenstand), but rather 'something ordered' (Bestand). From an ontological standpoint, such an ordered revealing is called 'enframing' (Gestell). Heidegger points out, 'Enframing means the gathering together of that setting-upon which sets upon man, i.e., challenges him forth, to reveal the real, in the mode of ordering, as standing reserve'. In this sense, Enframing (Gestell) is 'the name for the essence of modern technology'. Heidegger's concept of the 'Fourfold' (Geviert) can be traced to Laozi’s concept of the 'Four Greatness' in chapter 25 of the Dao de jing. Originally, Laozi writes, 'Therefore Tao ist great. Sky is great. Earth is great. And the king is also great'. That is to say, according to Laozi, the concept of the 'Four Greatness' points the 'Tao, sky, earth and king'. Now Heidegger replaces 'Tao' with the 'divine', and substitutes 'king' with 'the moral'. For him such a replacement is recessary for two reasons. First, while the infinite of human beings. Second, insofar as Tao takes Nature to be its norm, it should be identified as an interplay among the four. Heidegger has provied a more sophisticated articulation of Laozi's doctrine of the 'Four Greatness'. This is clearly shown in the following points : 1. 'Earth and sky, divinities and mortals – being at one with one another of their own accord – belong together by way of the simpleness of the united fourfold. Each of the four mirrors in its own way the presence of others'. 2. 'This appropritating mirror-play of the simple onefold of earth and sky, divinities and mortals, we call the world. The world presences by worlding'. 3. 'The fouring presences as the worlding of world... The things stays – gathers and unities – the fourfold. Thing things world'. 'Out of the ringing mirror-play the thinging of the thing takes place'. Heidegger is also influenced by Zhuangzi. Zhuangzi declares : 'The sage's mind in stillness is the mirror of heaven and earth, the glass of the ten thousand things'. He also claimes : 'That which brings forth things as things is not a thing'. 'Jedes der Vier spiegelt in seiner Weise das Wesen der übrigen wieder. Jedes spiegelt sich dabei nach seiner Weise in sein Eigenes innerhalb der Einfalt der Vier zurück'. Heidegger immediately writes : 'Das Spiegel-Spiel von Welt ist der Reigen des Ereignens'. 'Der Reigen ist der Ring, der ringt, indem er als das Spiegeln spielt'. Here one can well recall Zhuangzi's thesis that 'The ten thousand things all come from the same seed, and with their different forms they give place to one other. Beginning and end are part of a single ring and no one can comprehend its principle'. Accordingly, when Zhuangzi and Heidegger face the question : 'Here within the four directions and the six realms, where do the ten thousand things spring from when they come into being ?' i.e., 'When and in what way do things appear as things ?' both of them point to Nothing as that which brings things forth. This is the reason why the thing's thinging or the world's worlding (das Welten von Welt) 'cannot be explained by anything else nor can it be fathomed through anything else'. Heidegger's thesis that art is the saving power for overcoming technology is revolutionary. However, from the Taoist standpoint, one can say that it is basically a modern application of Zhuangzi's theory of art, as is well-known the allegory in his 'Gleichnis vom Glockenspielständer'. Heidegger is concretizing Zhuangzi's thesis that 'the useless has its use' (Der unnütze Baum). Indeed, such a position encouraged the later Heidegger to assert. 'But what is useless can still be a force, perhaps the only real force'. When Heidegger maintains that 'Danger' is the essence of Ge-stell, he obviously returns to Laozi. He declares : 'Die Gefahr verbirgt sich, indem sie sich durch das Ge-stell verstellt. Dieses selber wiederum verhüllt sich in dem, was es wesen lässt, in der Technik'. It is not accidental for Heidegger to claim that 'The danger' is the saving power, inasmuch as it brings the saving power out of its – the danger's – concealed essence that is ever susceptible of turning. Obviously, here Heidegger not only understands Laozi’s thesis that 'Tao is the mystery of things', but also his thesis that 'Turning' (Kehre) is the movement of Tao. Accordingly, it is understood why Heidegger's two most important works on the essence of technology are, respectively, entitled 'Danger' (Gefahr) and 'Turning' (Kehre). The later Heidegger's strange speech concerning the thinging of things is a logical consequence of Zhuangzi's thesis that 'treating things as things but not letting them treat you as a thing'. The rise of modern technology is far beyond the scope of traditional Taoism. Then Heidegger identifies 'modern technology' as a 'challenging' (Herausforderung) mode of revealing, he is able to transcend the original position of Laozi and Zhuangzi. In sum, the originality of Heidegger lies in his skiful application of the Taoist insight that 'Man exists because of Heaven, and Heaven too extists because of Heaven'. But man cannot cause Heaven to exist ; this is because of his essential nature’. Heidegger tends to undermine the positive character of modern technology. He concludes, 'We let technical devices enter our daily life, and at the same time leave them outside, that is, let them alone, as things which are nothing absolute but remain dependent upon something higher'. It seems that for Heidegger modern technology is a sort of necessary evil. In contrast, Zhuangzi is able to adopt a more positive attitude toward 'techne'. In his narrative Koch Ting, he shows us how one can match 'techne' with art in order to witness Tao ; art must find its expression in 'techne'. In this sense, Zhuangzi could help dissolve the tension between technology and art that is implicit in Heidegger's thought.	Person: Heidegger, Martin

Cited by (1)

#	Year	Bibliographical Data	Type / Abbreviation	Linked Data
1	2000-	Asien-Orient-Institut Universität Zürich	Organisation / AOI	Cited by: Huppertz, Josefine ; Köster, Hermann. Kleine China-Beiträge. (St. Augustin : Selbstverlag, 1979). [Hermann Köster zum 75. Geburtstag]. [Enthält : Ostasieneise von Wilhelm Schmidt 1935 von Josefine Huppertz ; Konfuzianismus von Xunzi von Hermann Köster]. (Huppe1, Published)