Monday, February 2, 2009

A Note on Heidegger's Use of Language

Sometimes things work out such that moments in the text or discussion early in the course point to issues to be picked up later on. Such is the case with the highly problematic nature of Heidegger’s language, and I thought it might be helpful if I made note of it.

Critchley nicely captures the difference between Carnap and Heidegger in this regard on page 103:

"Heidegger encourages us to undergo ‘an experience with language’ that cannot be captured in any formal metalanguage (nor can it be verified in any logical or empirical way[A.S.]). Carnapian ((ouch!) logical metalanguage would be as far from that experience as one could imagine."

Said “undergoing an experience with language,” with its accompanying pleasures and difficulties is precisely the theme of the essays in our main Heidegger text, On the Way to Language. Isn’t that nice?

A.S.

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