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The Explorative Nature of Heideggerian Logic

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Abstract

This paper argues for a fundamental re-reading of Heideggerian philosophy, especially regarding the logical structures presented by Heidegger in the thirties and onward. The field, which this logic organizes, shows an explorative formal element of language in and of itself, and is therefore different from an analytic concept of logic. An analytic conceptualization of logic is understood here as a reflection on the inner structures of already existing notions. An explorative logic, on the other hand, explores the relations between already existing notions and the possible, but yet unknown, development of new notions. The logic of Heidegger is explorative, as it describes the relational, formal structures between the already established semantic field and its virtual excess. This virtual excess, while formal, must be nonetheless considered the primary access to whatever we call external to language in the transcendental sense in Heidegger's philosophy. Therefore, the central question of this logical re-reading of Heidegger is the formal relation to the unknown real.

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Notes

  1. For example, Heidegger (1976a, 1984a, b, 1998).

  2. This sentence actually originates from Hegel’s Science of Logic but is there attributed to Spinoza (see Hegel 1969: 121).

  3. If one assumes that every determination is only made as a concrete determination, it actually opens up two fields of the indeterminate. 1. Every determination is constituted by an outside; this can be easily shown even with formal determination. 2. The determined itself is still indeterminate “inside,” if one assumes the Husserlian “Appräsentation” as a formal necessity of description and determination (see Harman 2008). Determination is thus understood only through limitation.

  4. This is articulated in the notion of “Weltbildung,” where Heidegger describes exactly this capturing change: “‘Das Dasein transzendiert’ heißt: es ist im Wesen seines Seins weltbildend, und zwar ‘bildend’ in dem mehrfachen Sinne, daß es Welt geschehen läßt, mit der Welt sich einen ursprünglichen Anblick (Bild) gibt, der nicht eigens erfaßt, gleichwohl gerade als Vor-bild für alles offenbare Seiende fungiert, darunter das jeweilige Dasein selbst gehört“ (Heidegger 1976b: 158).

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  1. Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, Münster, Germany

    Marc Heimann

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Heimann, M. The Explorative Nature of Heideggerian Logic. Hum Stud 44, 139–150 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10746-020-09568-x

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