More Heidegger
Defeated by the slow moving traffic on a inordinately chilled morning, I returned to home base. Reconsidering the day ahead, I had time for some emails and reading. I am eager to begin an essay by Heidegger, THE ORIGIN OF THE WORK OF ART. Here are some sentences from the first paragraph.
On the usual view, the work rises out of and by means of the activity of the artist. But by what and whence is the artist what he is? By the work; for to say that the work does credit to the master means that it is the work that first lets the artist emerge as a master of his art. The artist is the origin of the work. The work is the origin of the artist. Neither is without the other. Nevertheless, neither is the sole support of the other. In themselves and in their interrelations artist and work are each of them by virtue of a third thing which is prior to both, namely, that which also gives artist and work of art their names–art. –p. 143
And so begins my journey, my adventure to again consider the origin and the function of art.
Parenthetically as one reads philosophical texts one comes to realize a common denominator of those texts, and of the “intellects” of the past to which we return over and over. In common is the quality of the questions which they pose. Their words transcend generations because the questions are those that admit no final, concluding, all encompassing answer. It seems to me that if one desires answers, someone else’s answers, one needs to find a church. If it’s quality questions that you seek, then philosophy could be your game. Heidegger’s work is a good example.
