Document Type : Research Paper
Author
Assistant Professor, Department of Philosophy and Logics Education, Farhangian University, Tehran, Iran
Abstract
Introduction
Reflection on the nature and functions of language, and its relationship with thought, although raised in some works of past philosophers, has been mainly in the realm of analytical philosophers' interests in the 20th century, although the leading figures of continental philosophy have also occasionally discussed it, with Heidegger undoubtedly one of them. Heidegger's reflections on this matter can be an interesting topic due to his unconventional perceptions and encounters. One of these unconventional encounters is the reflection on the relationship between poetry and authentic philosophical thought. The poetic nature of Heidegger's thoughts in the later period of his intellectual life, which is intertwined with the concept of art, is something that has attracted the attention and criticism of many experts.
Materials & Methods
This article is an attempt to explain and regulate Heidegger's view on poetic thinking, which itself is based on his particular understanding of the nature of language and poetry. Therefore, after reviewing Heidegger's views on the revealing property of language, the nature of poetry is explored from his point of view to provide a context for understanding poetic thinking and distinguishing it from calculative and meditative thinking. In writing the text, using a descriptive-analytical method, I first tried to provide an accurate picture and description of the topic by referring to Heidegger's works and some commentators, and then try to analyze and regulate it.
Discussion & Result
In the later period of his thought, Heidegger deeply explored the subject of language as the abode of Being, focusing on it. Man, who is now in the position of the shepherd of Being, the guardian of the authentic disclosure of beings, attends to his duty of guardianship through language, which invites us to the essence of things (Heidegger, 1971c: 216). In his numerous remarks about language, and by referring to his particular understanding of the meaning of Logos among the early Greeks, Heidegger has shown that the communicative function of language itself is rooted in the revealing property of language. In this way, contrary to the common belief that we humans are the users of language, it is language that has dominion over us.
Heidegger distinguishes between the concept of utterance, which refers to the revealing property of language and constitutes its true nature, and explaining, talking, and issuing judgments, which are shown in the form of spoken and written propositions and phrases. Accordingly, it is possible for someone to express a truth while remaining silent about it, and on the other hand, it is possible for someone to speak about a truth while not expressing anything about it (Heidegger, 1971d: 122-123). Considering this distinction in the face of "Being" leads to the conclusion that although we cannot speak of "Being" as an object and issue logical judgments about it, we can nevertheless express it. The work of art and poetry are clear examples of such an expression, and poetry, in the meantime, is the founder and preserver of beings in the form of words. Thus, from Heidegger's point of view, poetry is the manifestation of the occurrence of truth. Heidegger believes that all arts, in that they are the event of the appearance of truth, are inherently poetry or Dichtung (Heidegger, 1993b: 197). Since, from Heidegger's point of view, any provision of the possibility of the occurrence of truth in the realm of language is poetry, therefore, philosophy, as far as it is in the service of revealing beings, is similar to poetry. Poetry apparently is a play of imagination and dream and looks at something unreal, while, in Heidegger's opinion, what is real is reflected in poetry (Heidegger, 2000: 62). In this way, poetry, whose essence is to lay the foundation of truth and preserve it in the realm of language, provides a foundation for the emergence of authentic philosophical thought.
From Heidegger's point of view, poetic creativity and innovation, as the transcendent origin of reason, elevate it beyond the level of conventional and everyday knowledge (Heidegger, 1991, 3: 96-97). The poetic nature of reason in Heidegger gives a special definition to his favorite and different kind of thinking, which, on the one hand, has a fundamental distinction from conventional philosophical thinking, and on the other hand, it is also distinguished in a way from the philosophical thinking he has in mind. The types of thinking in Heidegger include a hierarchical structure, at the bottom of which is calculative thinking, which is based on a present-at-hand method and looks at beings from a limited horizon, and at the top of this series is essential thinking, which is focused on the question of "Being" and its revelation. In Heidegger's works, the concept of fundamental thinking in the third decade of the twentieth century approaches the concept of poetry and gives meaning to a special kind of authentic thinking called poetic thinking. Thought and thoughtful poetry are sometimes called Denken or "meditative thinking" (Heidegger, 1966: 53) and Andenken or "recollective thinking" (Heidegger, 1998c: 314) in Heidegger's works, respectively. Poetic thinking seeks to reveal the origin and the hidden place of things. This way of thinking is the namer and founder of the sacred and the manifestor of the mystery, which it keeps as a mystery and an unnamed truth.
Although authentic meditative thinking, along with poetic thinking, is a mechanism for thinking about the mystery and approaching it, there are significant differences between them. Poetry and also the poetic thinking desired by Heidegger have found a clearer expression through some concepts in his later philosophy, such as the dualities of "dwelling-homelessness" and "releasement-madness".
Conclusion
Heidegger's accepted thinking, which he called essential thinking in the first period of his intellectual life, was interpreted in the 1930s in light of his particular understanding of the concept of poetry and gave meaning to poetic thinking. Although some have considered meditative or fundamental thinking to be the same as poetic thinking, there are significant differences between them. Poetic thinking, unlike meditative thinking, looks at an intuitive, unmediated, and positive encounter with the sacred and the mystery. In addition, poetic thinking, in comparison with meditative thinking, like an influential work of art in comparison with a collection of theoretical works, has a more complete, fundamental, and tangible impact on the individual lives of human beings. In sum, the relationship between fundamental thinking and poetic thinking is like the relationship between "knowing" and "seeing". Poetic thinking, by leaving things to themselves, provides a field for them to reveal themselves as they are. In Heidegger's view, by leaving things to themselves to manifest, we become authentically residents of the earth, and this is realized in the realm of poetry.
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