Aesthetics and philosophies of artOvercoming metaphysics, overcoming aesthetics? The question about art in Heideggers thinking

Carolina Andrea Donnari

Argentina

Universidad Nacional del Sur- Conicet

carodonnari@gmail.com

Abstract:

In the following paper, I will propose that the overcoming of metaphysics implies an overcoming of aesthetics as a metaphysical, modern-born discipline. However, this overcoming of aesthetics does not mean eliminating the question about art. On the contrary, it expresses the need of re-thinking art from an originary perspective, since Heidegger considers that artists can guide us towards a non metaphysical experience of Being. Consequently, overcoming aesthetics and overcoming metaphysics could be regarded as one and the same task.

Metaphysics, aesthetics, art, truth, Being.PaperIn his posthumous work Beitrge zur Philosophie, Martin Heidegger states: The question of the origin of the work is [] intimately connected with the task of overcoming aesthetics and that means simultaneously with overcoming a certain conception of beings as what is objectively representable. Overcoming of aesthetics again results necessarily from the historical encounter with metaphysics as such (Heidegger, 1994:503). As we read these lines, we cant avoid questioning why this task of overcoming aesthetics is so important for the German philosopher. And, mostly: what does it have to do with what we know is Heideggers main concern, that is, the question about Being? In the following paper, I will propose that the overcoming of metaphysics implies an overcoming of aesthetics as a metaphysical, modern-born discipline. However, the overcoming of aesthetics does not mean eliminating the question about art. On the contrary, it expresses the need of re-thinking art from an originary perspective, since Heidegger considers that artists can guide us towards a non metaphysical experience of Being. Consequently, overcoming aesthetics and overcoming metaphysics could be regarded as one and the same task. In order to develop this appreciation, it is necessary to begin by pointing out how Heidegger understands metaphysics. He describes it as the Western conception that has mistakenly identified Being (Sein) with beings (Seiende), therefore forgetting that there is an ontological difference between them. Metaphysics has understood Being, what is fleeting, as a steady substance; it understands Being as something that is merely present. Heidegger, instead, thinks that Being is given that is, it is present in the form of beings- but it also refuses itself (sich etzieht) in the same movement. This means that we always comprehend Being from the horizon of time, because Being has a history, Being is history. Metaphysics is an epoch of the history of Being (Seinsgeshichte), in which Being itself has been forgotten (Heidegger, 2007).

According to Heidegger, the metaphysical comprehension of Being has been sustained throughout the whole history of western thinking, but has consolidated in modern times. In the 1938 conference The age of the World Picture, Heidegger indicates that modernity is the age in which the entire world turns into a picture, that is, into an object of a subjects representation (Heidegger, 1977b: 89-90). Modernity is, in fact, the date of birth of subject as we know it today. Before that, subject was a word that referred to any kind of being, as the Greek word determined. But in modernity, subject begins to refer only to human being. This change has deep consequences, because when [] man becomes the primary and genuine subiectum, this means that he becomes that being upon which every being, in its way of being and its truth, is founded. Man becomes the referential center of beings as such (Heidegger, 1977b:88). As man places himself as center and measure of the universe, he considers beings as something that is available to satisfy his needs. This process includes the question about art, for one essential phenomenon of modernity lies in the process of art's moving into the purview of aesthetics. This means the artwork becomes an object of experience [Erlebens] and consequently is considered to be an expression of human life (Heidegger, 1997b:75).

Heidegger considers that the metaphysical comprehension of beings extends to present times, in the form of modern technology. Technology understands beings as Gestell, mere enframing ready to be consumed (Heidegger, 2000:20). In the shape of modern technology, metaphysics no longer thinks Being but reduces everything to the character of thing. In consequence, technology eliminates any remaining possibility of experiencing Being, not even in a metaphysical way. This is why Heidegger considers contemporary times as the epoch of the ending (Vollendung) of metaphysics.

Heidegger considers that modern technology represents a time of extreme danger. This danger, however, does not come from the potentially lethal machines and apparatus of technology. The actual danger is that the rule of Enframing threatens man with the possibility that it could be denied to him to enter into a more original revealing and hence to experience the call of a more primal truth (Heidegger, 2000:29). Nevertheless, Heidegger states, quoting Hlderlin, that where there is danger also grows the saving power. The extreme forgetness of Being that takes place in the age of modern technology gives us a chance to overcome metaphysical thinking.

Indeed, Heidegger thinks theres an originary aspect in modern technology, for he considers technology and metaphysics as well- are destinies of the history of Being. Heidegger states that, along with a misunderstanding of the true nature of Being, metaphysics has developed a misconception of truth. Heidegger thinks the traditional definition of truth as adaequatio intellectum ad rem is just a derived version of the essence of truth, which consists in the disclosedness of Being. In order for things to agree with our judgment, it is necessary that theyve already disclosed in what they are by themselves (Heidegger, 1977a:214). To articulate this originary comprehension of truth, Heidegger returns to the Greek word , which expresses a disclosedness (Unverborgenheit) in which something always remains hidden. Metaphysics and modern technology are, thus, two ways in which beings disclose themselves, two forms in which Being is given. When we experience technology as destination of the truth of Being, we understand that metaphysics is not the only way to comprehend the world. Heidegger remembers that in ancient Greek, was the name not only for technology, but also for art. Back then, the arts were not derived from the artistic. Art works were not enjoyed aesthetically. Art was not a sector of cultural activity. What, then, was art- perhaps only for that brief but magnificent time? Why did art bear the modest name ? Because it was a revealing that brought forth and hither, and therefore belonged within . It was finally that revealing which holds complete sway in all the fine arts, in poetry, and in everything poetical that obtained as its proper name (Heidegger, 2000:35). According to Heidegger, art as well as technology is a disclosedness of truth, but a more primal one. Heidegger formulates his considerations on art in 1935 conference The origin of the work of art. There, he establishes a connection between art and truth. Art must be regarded not from an aesthetical, but from an ontological point of view, for the work of art is, before anything else, a put to work of the truth (Heidegger, 1977b:46). As we have seen before, Heidegger thinks aesthetics belong to modern comprehension of Being. Aesthetics treat the work of art as an object, as indeed an object of , of sensory apprehension in a broad sense. For him, on the other hand, the work of art is a happening of truth, as it let beings disclose as what they are.

Heidegger calls this disclosure that takes place in the work of art the counterplay of world and earth (Heidegger, 1977b:38). World refers to the multiplicity of meanings that the work of art carries with it, to the disclosure of truth, while earth stands for the reservoir of meanings that the work keeps to itself, that is, the concealment. The truth that happens in the work of art is , originary truth. This originary happening of truth in the work of art is a first step towards a non metaphysical comprehension of Being, as for Heidegger Being and truth are the very same event. Considering the work of art not from an aesthetical, but from an ontological perspective may be the beginning of a new understanding of everything that is. According to Heidegger, to overcome (berwinden) metaphysics is to make a turn (winden) so that we can twist metaphysical comprehension of Being (Heidegger, 2000:67). This also means to take a step backwards (Schritt zurck) from current thinking to the origin of philosophy, in order to think what in metaphysics has remained unthought: the essence of Being, not as substance but as event, as Ereignis (Heidegger, 1994:10). Heidegger says this is a task for the thinkers, who pay attention to the call of Being. But thinkers are not the only protagonists of Heideggers quest towards an authentic existence. To take a turn into the other origin of thinking, poets are also necessary.

Heidegger thinks that, among all forms of art, Poetry (Dichtung) occupies an outstanding position. This is because words are the element of Poetry, and language is the primal location where the truth of Being takes place: language, by naming beings for the first time, first brings beings to word and to appearance. This naming nominates beings to their being and from out of that being. [] Poetry is the saying of the unconcealment of beings (Heidegger, 1977b:61). Poets bring things into presence as what they really are, namely, shelters of the truth of Being. This is why Heidegger also states that man dwells the world poetically, as he establishes his residence saving the earth, receiving the sky, waiting for the holy ones along with the other mortals (Heidegger, 2000:144-45). Poetry and thinking are the two essentials forms of language: poets are the ones who can interpret the fading signs of the holy, while thinkers name the essence of things. Thinkers and poets belong together; they are like the branches of trees that rise next to each other, as neighbors, in the middle of a forest (Heidegger, 1983: 35). As we have seen, aesthetics and metaphysics are intimately connected, and also is their overcoming. When we overcome aesthetics we transform the way in which we understand art, but at the same time we transform the way in which we comprehend world and the wholeness of beings. For that reason, to overcome aesthetics is to overcome metaphysics. And to overcome metaphysics means, before all, to learn how to dwell our world poetically, that is, in a more thankful and respectful way, leaving behind the dominance of modern Gestell. Because philosophy or, as Heidegger would rather say in his latter years, meditative thinking- is both an inquiry and a way of living.

Notes

Heidegger thinks that Being and truth as the same thing; therefore, not only Being gives and refuses itself, but also truth. This essential comprehension of truth as an arrangement of disclosedness and concealment is what he names .

References

Heidegger, M., Sein und Zeit (GA 2), (Vittorio Klostermann, Frankfurt 1977)

Heidegger, M., Holzwege (GA 5), (Vittorio Klostermann , Frankfurt 1977)

Heidegger, M., Vortrge und Aufstze (GA 7), (Vittorio Klostermann , Frankfurt 2000)

Heidegger, M., Unterwegs zur Sprache (GA 12), (Vittorio Klostermann , Frankfurt 1985)

Heidegger, M., Aus der Erfahrung des Denkens (GA 13), (Vittorio Klostermann , Frankfurt 1983)

Heidegger, M., Zur Sache des Denkens (GA 14), (Vittorio Klostermann , Frankfurt 2007)

Heidegger, M., Beitrge zur Philosophie (Vom Ereignis) (GA 65), (Vittorio Klostermann , Frankfurt 1994)

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