The Secular Frontier

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 t ... 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: ... Read Article

I would like here to conclude my thoughts on Hölderlin’s poem Germania. It is not the case, as is popularly thought, that Parmenides taught the One while Heraclitus taught the many, since Heraclitus too taught the One.  So, for example, we gave the ... Read Article

Husserl noted we never leave the present.  The past was a past present and the future will be a future present.  This moves forward as clock time.  On the other hand, as I observed in my master’s thesis on Heidegger and the Greeks (2002, pg 10), ther ... Read Article

*NOTE:  If I update a post I put a note in the comment section, so just hit refresh! Last series I looked at Heidegger’s interpretation of Holderlin’s poem Germania in terms of re-thinking Greek Philosophy.  Specifically, we looked at Heide ... Read Article

(Hölderlin by Franz Carl Hiemer, 1792) Johann Christian Friedrich Hölderlin (20 March 1770 – 7 June 1843) was a German poet and philosopher. Described by Norbert von Hellingrath as "the most German of Germans", Hölderlin was a key figure of Ge ... Read Article

“The name of the bow is life [βίος], its work, however, death” [the most extreme opposites of beyng together in one]. Heraclitus, fragment 48 Hegel, on page 26 of the Preface to the Phenomenology of Spirit, his first major work, and at t ... Read Article

Much have humans experienced. Named many of the heavenly, Since we are a dialogue And can hear from one another. (Holderlin) We noted last time that we operate in and out of contexts, e.g., the spirit of the age or the human condition, noti ... Read Article

(1) “Nothing is certain but death and taxes. (Benjamin Franklin)” (2) Carpe Diem! (“Seize the day:” Horace Odes [Book 1, Poem 11], where he writes, "Carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero," which means "Seize the day, put no trust in tomor ... Read Article

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNaKCkorw5M Have you ever asked yourself who you really are, with all your distractions stripped away, sitting in the corner facing the wall in a Time-Out? Last time we looked at restlessness with Sophocles, Holderlin ... Read Article

Thus the blessed ones feel it not themselves, But their joy is The saying and the talk of humans. Born restlessly, these soothe Their hearts, intimating afar, by the happiness of those on high. This the gods love; yet their ordinance . . . Hölderlin ... Read Article

Given the 3 previous background posts, I'll now go ahead with Hölderlin as the main focus, particularly here in Part 1 with his "Germania." We are looking at Hölderlin’s poetry as a clue to understanding the ancient Greeks in a new way.  Hölderli ... Read Article

Today I'd like to conclude my preliminary background thoughts with Aristotle and then transition to an initial take on Hölderlin. Naas cites an instructive passage from Heidegger's Zur Frage nach der Bestimmung der Sache des Denkens, "Heidegger recall ... Read Article

So, we are going through some preliminary remarks based on Heidegger's 1926 lecture course on ancient philosophy to prepare for looking at Hölderlin's interpretation of ancient thought. Last time I looked at Heraclitus and Parmenides, and today I'll loo ... Read Article

Wiki: Hölderlin by Franz Carl Hiemer, 1792 So, I’m going to be looking at ancient thought as it was reimagined by the German poet Hölderlin.  As a brief introduction I’d like to make a few remarks about the presocratic philosophers Herac ... Read Article

The stock market temporarily tanked today and the proposed tariffs are wildly unpopular in the states. So, the result of Trump terrorizing my fellow Canadians with tariff threats for the last little while is Canada and Mexico have been given proba ... Read Article

I mentioned last time it is foundational for Donald Trump to cite reasons such as fentanyl to justify large tariffs on Canada, because in the video I linked to of him this seems to be smoke and mirrors since in his words were he wants tariffs ... Read Article

Why would Trump do such a thing? Here is his official justification: As a Canadian this is scary because it threatens to put our economy into recession. Is Trump being honest, though? Here is an alternative answer: Greed. Trump has become convi ... Read Article

“We know next to nothing about the poetic truth of the tragic poetry of Aeschylus and Sophocles (Heidegger, Heraclitus 1944, 237)” “The human is the place of the truth of being, and this is why the human can, at the same time, also be the conf ... Read Article

The modern human is fascinated by this technological monstrosity of brightness; when it becomes too much, he uses the mountains or the sea as a palliative; he then ‘experiences’ ‘nature’  an experience that certainly can become boring alread ... Read Article

"What are you gaping at, you scoundrels? Or is it not better to do this [Play with kids] than to work with you on behalf of the πόλις [city-state]?" (Heraclitus) The above statement reflects Heraclitus’s disdain for current affairs political i ... Read Article

Heidegger notes regarding phusis that when we see the Van Gogh that “this is art” or the circling bird of prey “this is nature,” as though artness and natureness was present incarnate in the beings (Pa, phusis, 212).”  More to the point with He ... Read Article

Thales is a step back from life, not caught up in the everyday and so falls in a well while thinking, and the Thracian slave girl laughs at him. Heidegger argues (FCM, 183) all creative action resides in a mood of melancholy, whether we are clearly awa ... Read Article

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1z7LhlFf8A ... Read Article

We’ve been thinking about “to on,” the participle which is simultaneously the nominative/substantive “the being” and the verbal “being.”  We saw with Plato’s Gorgias that with the beautiful thing beauty is present as the usual Greek way t ... Read Article