At that time, my teacher, Mr. Xiong Wei, said: Martin Heidegger (1889-1976) was a philosopher. When we were young, the teacher said casually, and we listened casually. Decades ago, I taught philosophy myself, and I had students, often discussing Heidegger and trying to think with him. Thinking back to Mr. Xiong's words back then, I feel particularly meaningful. Then the question we have to ask today is: What kind of philosopher was Heidegger?
"Pinnacle" philosophers and "prophetic" scholars
If one were to classify the important philosophers in the history of philosophy, I think it would be useful to divide them into two categories: one is called the "pinnacle" philosopher, and the other is the "prophetic" philosopher.
The "pinnacle" philosopher is the intellectual pinnacle of an era. Peak also means end. Hegel famously said that "Minerva's owl" only flies after dusk. What does this mean? It is said that philosophical thought is often the embodiment of the spirit of the times, which represents the most core and brilliant things of this era.
Therefore, the writings of famous philosophers are often systematic summaries of the spirit of his time or the ideas of the times. For example, when we talk about Greek philosophy, we immediately think of Plato (427BC-347BC) and Aristotle (384BC-322BC), who can be considered the apex or pinnacle of the Greek spirit.
Their ideas, their doctrines, represent the highest standards of ancient Greek philosophy and are a summary of the intellectual achievements of this era. After ancient Greece, into the Middle Ages, the representative of the zeitgeist was Christian theology. Who were the pinnacle philosophers of the Middle Ages? Generally speaking, it is Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274).
In modern times, when people think of philosophers of the pinnacle or the collectivity, people immediately think of Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) and G. W. F. Hegel，1770—1831）。 The philosophical system of these philosophers is lofty and profound. They have a foundational or summative expression and argument of all aspects of the philosophical spirit and culture of that era.
In addition to the "pinnacle" philosophers, in history, we will find that there is another type of philosopher. These philosophers often do not argue, defend or summarize their time, but more on the basis of that era, questioning, challenging, and criticizing the most basic concepts and statements that were considered natural and unquestionable at that time.
In the long course of human thought, the ideas of these philosophers were truly accepted, understood, and appreciated, often until many years after their deaths. Some of these ideas may become precursors to mainstream thinking in the next era. Of course, we see more philosophers whose ideas are short-lived, like shooting stars, accompanied by a brilliant arc of light, and soon disappear into the vast historical starry sky.
But philosophers who become or influence the mainstream of thought are called "prophetic" philosophers. For example, Plato's teacher, Socrates (469BC-399BC), was a typical "prophetic" philosopher. Socrates was not mainstream in his time, but was suppressed as a heretic.
But we know that Socrates was not only the beginning of the entire Western philosophy and scientific culture, but also the first sacrificer and martyr of our philosophy and scientific spirit. As another example, we can cite René Descartes (1596-1650).
Descartes represented the beginning of modern thought, but descartes were also seen as heretics when he was alive. We know today that he was seen as a heretic and suppressed because he spanned two epochs: on the one hand, he critiqued the dominant scholastic philosophy of the time as a heretic; on the other hand, he called for the arrival of a new era with completely new ideas and methods, and was regarded as a prophet.
If we read Descartes's basic works, such as his Meditations or The Treatise on Methods, we can clearly see that Descartes was the terminator of the old system on the one hand, and the pioneer of the new system on the other.
What kind of era is this era in which we live today? We call it the age of "science," or "modernity." In the age of science, we humans have achieved incredible things. But at the same time, with the development of the times, we are facing more and more problems and challenges, some of which are fundamental or fundamental.
So, philosophically, "modernity" itself began to become a problem. In other words, we live in an era in which many of the basic concepts on which we live, such as reason, science, democracy, freedom, human rights, progress, truth, justice, etc., are considered by the vast majority of people today to be natural, and they constitute the ideological starting point and value basis of our entire era.
But there are also thinkers and philosophers who demand a rethinking of the basic spirit of our time and the core concepts that reflect them, and demand a more thorough critique of them. These thinkers and philosophers have been called "postmodern". Of course, rethinking and critiquing does not mean complete abandonment, in the same way that Descartes's methodological skepticism is that the "suspension" of Edmund Husserl (1859-1938) is the same.
The concept of "postmodernity" is not a historical concept here in the first place. It does not mean exactly "after" in time, but more of a philosophical implication, that is, it calls for a more thorough critical reflection on the legitimacy of the fundamental concepts on which modern society is based, and for a new, even subversive, philosophical and intellectual debate. Heidegger belongs to such a class of philosophers, or rather, a precursor to such a class of philosophers. In this sense, he can be considered a "forerunner" or "prophet" of the coming age.
So what is the core issue of Heidegger's concern? In fact, Heidegger asked only one question throughout his life, and that was the question of "being." On this question, we can start with Heidegger when he was young.
Heidegger recalls his philosophical career in his later years, beginning on his 17th birthday. At that time, he made a fatherly friend in the church of his hometown and was a deacon of the church. The deacon gave him a pamphlet on Aristotle's doctrine of existence as a birthday present.
In this book, Aristotle's thinking and understanding of the multiple meanings of existence is discussed. We now look at Heidegger's famous work, his most important work, Being and Time, and the title page quotes a passage from the Greek philosopher Plato about "existence", which is a passage from Plato in his famous sophist.
This passage is now almost unknown to everyone in Chinese philosophical circles due to Heidegger's quotation. This passage goes like this: "When you use the word 'existence,' it is clear that you are already familiar with the meaning of these words. But while we thought we understood, we are now confused. ”
"Being" is the Chinese translation of the German word "sein", also translated as "is". It is called "to be" in English. It seems to be a very small word, very ordinary, ordinary to insignificant. We just have to talk and we use it.
For example, children's teeth and teeth learn words, "this is Daddy", "This is Mommy", "The sky is blue", "The flowers are red". But it is also the first "word" that constitutes our human language and thought, a "word" that we must not leave. Therefore, philosophically, "existence/is" is always a big word, and it can be said that it determines our thoughts in the dark, and at the same time determines the fate of our human beings.
We don't usually ask much about it, we just use it, we just think that such use is natural. But as a philosopher, Heidegger insisted on asking this question, or starting with this most basic question, all the way to the end of his life.
Friends familiar with Heidegger's thought may know that after Heidegger's death, according to his last wishes, only a star was engraved on the tombstone except for his name.
What this star represents, I think, has two meanings: one meaning is that Heidegger's questioning is not only aimed at the philosophical problems that we think about in the ordinary life of human beings, and it can even be said that it is not only the problem of our earthlings, but also an interstellar problem, that is, our era today has begun to move towards the interstellar era;
Another meaning is to imply that this star is just a loner in the deep and dark night sky of thought, a little lonely flash, which is the loneliness and depth of thought. This is Heidegger's positioning of himself, and this is also the positioning of human thought, and the beginning of this positioning is to ask: What is existence?
"Philosophy doesn't think" in the age of science
Heidegger's critical, or subversive, reflection on the question of existence throughout the Western philosophical tradition is, on the one hand, one of the most extreme manifestations of this tradition.
And precisely because it is a most extreme embodiment, it is possible to break through this tradition itself. Heidegger later called this tradition a metaphysical tradition or a philosophical tradition. Silu edit
In his later years, Heidegger wrote a very famous article called "The End of Philosophy and the Task of Thought", which summarized this line of thought. The end of philosophy speaks of such an epistemological way of thinking, the subjective way of thinking, which reaches the extreme, and precisely because it reaches the extreme, the end of philosophy is completed.
But the completion of this end means that the possibility of another beginning, or another beginning, begins to emerge, which Heidegger calls the beginning of "thought" or the task of "thought." Heidegger argues that in our time, although we claim to be rational creatures and intellectual lovers, we actually have a name for ourselves. Heidegger also has a very appalling assertion.
He said that in our time, science does not think, that is to say, science does not think. In what sense did he say this? He even said that in our age of flourishing science, philosophy no longer thinks, so he calls for true philosophy.
And the real philosophy is to start from thinking about our human existence, to ask about existence itself, because our human existence is inherently connected to existence itself. In his later years, he also wrote a book called "What is Thought", and the word "call" is very interesting in German, "Was Heiβt Denken"? This "call" (heiβsen) on the one hand has "is ... Name" means, so we can also translate the title of the book like this: "What 'is' thought?" But on the other hand, "heiβsen" also means "calling", "summoning", "calling".
Heidegger wants to emphasize that through this "yes", through this examination of the "existence of thought", to "summon" a new beginning of thought or philosophy. So, Heidegger's "What is Thought?" Or," "What is thought?" It is precisely to "summon" another era that is different from our scientific and technological era today.
In this sense, I would call Heidegger's attempt at the foundations of his philosophical basis existentialism a call, a call, a call, and a wait for the philosophies of the future epoch. In this sense, we also say that Heidegger is a prophet of the times.
Source: Presence and Freedom: The Mystery of Heidegger's Thought
Author: Wang Qingjie
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