Heidegger and Nixon (was Re: What?)

[paul.murphy at utoronto.ca]

On Wed, 4 Sep 1996 hankhank at ccwf.cc.utexas.edu wrote:

> 
> 
> Perhaps we are witnessing Nixon opening to Dasein, which to Heidegger is a 
> question of opening to the question, question of questioning the ontology 
> of Western metaphysics, which he himself quit doing in the 30s, when 
> offering himself to the service of a certain, most ontological, Spirit. 
> 
> But probably we are not witnessing Nixon carrying out anything like that.
> 
> Heikki
> 

Though the Heideggerian question isn't "What" (the Platonic ti to on) but 
rather the more Husserlian "How" -- not "what is being" (enquiring after 
essence or after the 'beingness' (Seiendheit) of being) but how being 
comes to presence, how it presences (within the 
horizon opened up by the 'there' of 'there-being' (Da-sein)). Whether 
Heid. 'quits asking' this question is contentious to say the least 
(though something called "German Dasein" does, for a time, get tangled up 
in the question).

Cheers,
Paul Murphy