The Secular Frontier

Last time I did a standalone post on William Lane Craig and the Kalam Cosmological argument, but now back to Heidegger’s interpretation of Holderlin. Looking on to section 15, Heidegger draws a distinction between kalon and me kalon, “non beings / non beautiful.  We noted previously how the idea of the beautiful in Plato was the vehicle for the appearing of the being (e.g., houseness appears incarnate in the mansion, merely present in the average house, and efficient in the dilapidated shack). Plato calls the beautiful, kala/ekphanestaton, “that which, as most of all and most purely shining from itself, shows the visible form and thus is unhidden” (Heidegger, 1998c [PA], Vol. 1, p. 78; also at 1979 [Nl], p. 80). Referring to Plato’s Phaedrus, Heidegger says that beauty is “what is most radiant and sparkling in the sensuous realm, in a way that, as such brilliance, it lets Being scintillate at the same time” (Heidegger, 1979 [Nl], p. 197). "Kalon" in Antigone leans toward moral or beauti ... Read Article

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VeKavDdRVIg My former professor and friend, the late Canadian postmodern philosopher David Goicoechea, gave this assessment of philosophy since Kierkegaard and Nietzsche in the Continental (as opposed to Analytic) tradition: Postmodernism and deconstruction are usually associated with a destruction of ethical values. The volumes in the Postmodern Ethics series demonstrate that such views are mistaken because they ignore the religious element that is at the heart of existential-postmodern philosophy. This series aims to provide a space for thinking about questions of ethics in our times. When many voices are speaking together from unlimited perspectives within the postmodern labyrinth, what sort of ethics can there be for those who believe there is a way through the dark night of technology and nihilism beyond exclusively humanistic offerings? The series invites any careful exploration of the postmodern and the ethical.  (Goicoechea, David. Agape and Personhood: w ... Read Article

One point that needs to be stressed is Heidegger's thought of man as transitionally historical. For example, in this lecture course that was delivered at the height of the Nazi movement in 1942, Heidegger notes the central concepts of polis and apolis in the Antigone, and the central homelessness (apolis) caught between the will of the individual and the will of the collective (Antigone caught between the personal will to bury and state will not bury her brother).  This reflects the historical nature of the Greek polis, which is true of the polis of history and the polis as the historical abode of humankind.  Walker summarizes: Only the Gods and νόμοι now ruled a citizen of the πόλeις. Herodotus claims in the third book of the Histories that ‘Custom (νόμοj) is king of all.’ Demaratus tried to inform Xerxes that the Spartans’ ‘master is the law and they’re far more afraid of it than your men are of you.’ The words of Demaratus are misleading. The Greeks did not fear the law in ... Read Article

Manifold is the uncanny, yet nothing more uncanny looms or stirs beyond the human being (Sophocles Antigone, Heidegger's translation) I’m now into part 2/3 of Heidegger’s lecture course on Holderlin’s Hymn The Ister and we find out one of the reasons Holderlin is such an important poet for Heidegger is Holderlin’s interpretation/translation of Pindar and Sophocles, especially Sophocles’ Ode to Man in the Antigone and the concept of deinon.  This is fundamental for me because my 2002 MA thesis was on Heidegger and the Greeks focusing on this issue: the relationship between parestios (homely) and deinon (unhomely). Heidegger says the concept of apolis (homeless) must be thought together with deinon (uncanny/unhomely) for the Greeks.  The famous Antigone deinon ode to man says: “Many things are wondrous but nothing more so than man,” but this seems to be understood sarcastically, and so means “Many things are unsettling/unsettled but nothing more so than man (“deinon” at this p ... Read Article

The modern scientific world picture is ever refining the mathematical technical projection of inanimate nature, order as calculable and ordered relationality posited in advance.  Heidegger comments Already in the last century, philosophy clearly recognized and spoke of the transformation of the concept of substance into the concept of function.  The actual is conceived as function subject to mathematical and technical calculability.  There is a functional nexus of actual effects in space and time.  The entirety of what is actual is a system of mutually dependent , functional changes of state a=f(b).  "a" is nothing other than a function of "b."  "To be" means nothing other than to be a function and to be a functionary of b.  Similarly, to be a cause of something (causality), the actual effecting of whatever has an effect, that is, the actuality of whatever is actual, is thought "functionally."  Kant was the first to bring this conception of causality, effecting, to ... Read Article

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bg1di8sGxWc We've been approaching Hölderlin's talk of gods and their abandoning in an essential way, not merely relying on Hölderlin's text nor secondary literature on Hölderlin. What is demanded, rather is orienteering through the depths of our own existence to let Hölderlin's signposts point us to what is to be found there or what could be. Heidegger comments: And because, instead of reading the works of poets and thinkers, it has become the custom merely to read books "about" them, or even excerpts from such books, there is the even more acute danger of the opinion setting in that the gods in Hölderlin's poetry could be ascertained and discussed via literary means (Heidegger, The Ister, 32)." In this regard, taking a framework of pre-existing concepts and definitions like psychoanalysis or Marxism or feminism and overlaying the framework onto the text is of no avail here. Hölderlin is not pointing to truth as "the correct," but the great truths of the ... Read Article

Parmenides famously said, "apprehension and Being are the same," and Heidegger quipped (I think in his Parmenides lecture course from the 40's) such a thought makes you lose the desire to write books if you really understand it, which becomes obvious when it falls apart.  For example, we might apprehend movement fractionally, which starts out fine but proceeds into thoughtlessness.  In a walk, we might go from point A to point B.  But, in order to get to point B you need to make it halfway between A and B, to point C.  Yet, in order to make it to point C you must make it halfway between points A and C, point D, and this continues infinitely and absurdly until apprehension is impossible.  This breaking down shows the overwhelming majority of the time apprehending and Being coincide. It also shows the further and further we dive into out interpretive categories, the more opaque things become. For example, physicist Carlo Rovelli notes that the more we penetrate into the very small in physics, the less t ... Read Article

Hölderlin’s rivers are not symbolic images of a higher level or a deeper religious content.  They are not a placeholder for already familiar existing German essence and life.  Hölderlin’s hymnal poetry after 1799 was not concerned with symbolic images at all.  The end of The Ister says “Yet what that one does, that river, no one knows.”  The river is concealed.  “The Rhine” poem and “The Ister poem” will not share a common “river essence/river in general” though they are both river poems.  Even if we don’t know the Donau river, the discipline of Geography can provide us precise information about it.  Such knowledge is ascertained by geography and knowable through “everyday experiences.”  But, Hölderlin is going to deny that is what a river truly is. Humans have housing and accommodations on the river, but this doesn’t tell us fully about how the humans dwell.  These dwellings are he asulia, asylums, where life and nature are concentrated and intimate.  The abode is ... Read Article

I noted in my previous article on Hölderlin’s poem “Remembrance” that the modern university is metaphysical in Plato’s sense.  We might see two political science students debate the abortion issue using two equally illustrative but mutually exclusive examples or analogies to support their positions (e.g., arguing pro-life vs pro-choice).  It is this metaphysical reading of Hölderlin’s poem Heidegger is going to be pushing back against. Metaphysics in Plato’s sense means dividing Being into two realms for the purpose of removing ambiguity and hence facilitate learning.  For example, in literary theory you can do a psychoanalytic reading of a poem like The Tyger by William Blake.  The psychoanalytic interpretive paradigm is the “really real,” and the actual interpretation aims at being the paradigm incarnate, in the same way we say the mansion is “houseness” incarnate/personified. Heidegger argues the metaphysical is a realm of thinking that dumbs everything down for the ... Read Article

In the Gospels, Jesus is sometimes called "Rabbi": 50 Throwing his cloak aside, he jumped to his feet and came to Jesus.51 “What do you want me to do for you?” Jesus asked him.The blind man said, “Rabbi, I want to see.”52 “Go,” said Jesus, “your faith has healed you.” Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road.(Mark 10:50-52, NIV) 20 In the morning as they passed by, they saw the fig tree withered away to its roots. 21 Then Peter remembered and said to him, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree that you cursed has withered.” 22 Jesus answered them, “Have faith in God.(Mark 11:20-22, NRSV Updated Edition) 44 Now the betrayer had given them a sign, saying, “The one I will kiss is the man; arrest him and lead him away under guard.” 45 So when he came, he went up to him at once and said, “Rabbi!” and kissed him. 46 Then they laid hands on him and arrested him. (Mark 14:44-46, NRSV Updated Edition) 24 The Son of Man goes as it is written of him, ... Read Article

The Island https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apD1IuE5Lwo The Cape Breton Liberation Army (CBLA) is a fictional entity born out of a satirical comic series called Old Trout Funnies, created by artist Paul "Moose" MacKinnon in the 1970s. This homegrown project emerged during a time when Cape Breton Island was experiencing a cultural renaissance, shaking off its historical marginalization due to geography and economics. The CBLA, as depicted in the comics, is a tongue-in-cheek revolutionary force, humorously battling against mainland Nova Scotia’s influence—symbolized by the Canso Causeway, which connects the island to the rest of the province—and poking fun at local politics, labor unions, environmental issues, and societal stereotypes. The satire revolves around exaggerated, farcical exploits that play with the caricature of Cape Bretoners as laid-back, tavern-loving rogues. Yet beneath the humor lies a sharp commentary on the island’s identity. The CBLA’s mock mission to "liberate" Cape Br ... Read Article

This is a transcript of a conversation between a teacher (me, John) and Grok 3 AI John: Hi Grok 3. Want to do some creative and critical thinking? Grok 3: Hey there! Absolutely, I’m up for some creative and critical thinking. What’s on your mind—want to brainstorm, tackle a problem, or maybe explore some wild ideas? Throw me a starting point and let’s see where we can take it! John: Okay, let’s do some Socratic questioning (leading questions). This is a fundamental strategy in genuine learning and teaching. I will ask you a series of 4 questions. Each question will proceed more deeply into seeing your understanding of an issue than the previous questions. I'd like you to give a short answer after every question, but let me know if you would like to revise an earlier answer after considering a later question. Got it? Great! Here is the first question: 1. Do you think time travel is more likely possible or not possible? Grok 3: Got it! I’m ready to dive in. For your first question: I ... Read Article

"The Roman word res designates that which concerns somebody, ... that which is pertinent, which has a bearing ... In Enghsh 'thing' has still preserved the full semantic power of the Roman word: 'He knows his things,' he understands the matters that have a bearing on him ... The Roman word res denotes what pertains to man, concerns him and his interests in any way or manner. That which concerns man is what is real in res ... Meister Eckhart says, adopting an expression of Dionysius the Areopagite: love is of such a nature that it changes man into the things he loves (Heidegger PLT, T, 175-6)." I’m concluding this study of Martin Heidegger’s first lecture course on Hölderlin’s poetry, devoted to an interpretation of the hymns “Germania” and “The Rhine.” Delivered in Freiburg in the winter semester of 1934–35, this course marks Heidegger’s first sustained engagement with Hölderlin’s poetizing, and is particularly important for understanding the works of Heidegger that follow in the m ... Read Article

Ever-beautiful youth, before it withers (Holderlin, The Death of Empedocles) One point on the poem is it is not to be read as imagery combine with indication in the poem about how to interpret the imagery. [I]t presents difficulties and in the end is thoroughly mistaken if we seek to introduce a distinction between strophes that are descriptive and those that are explanatory. For even the strophes that forgo supplying any image relating to the river (the second part of strophe III and strophes VII, VIII, and IX) are not some kind of philosophical elaboration of what has been told by way of images in the preceding strophes. Rather, what we have in each case is an ongoing telling or, better, a telling that goes back and forth, and that in itself presents the fact that what is to be told is, in its essence, manifold. (Heidegger, Martin. Hölderlin's Hymns: "Germania" and "The Rhine" (Studies in Continental Thought) (p. 261). Indiana University Press. Kindle Edition.) The new “truth” being ... Read Article

“[T]he closed essence of the universe contains no force which could withstand the courage of cognition; it must open up before it, and afford it the spectacle and enjoyment of its riches and its depths. (Hegel 1818).”  Heidegger comments: “[The] fundamental experience of Hegelian metaphysics – namely that the universe cannot withstand the courage of cognition and must open itself to the will for unconditioned certain knowledge (i.e., the will for absolute certainty) – is entirely and utterly non-Greek … The obscurity attended to in the way of thinking is essentially divorced from every ‘mysticism’ and mere sinking into the darkness of obscurity for its own sake (H, 26).” (1) Greek: Gods/thinkers (athanatizein - deathlessness) – the individual- apart from man (2) German: Gods fled, thinkers demi-gods, bring the word to man and fatherland. Hölderlin comments: Habit is such a powerful goddess that no one, presumably, can rebel against her without being punished. The ... Read Article