Heidegger's Method: Philosophical Concepts as Formal Indications

Author(s): Daniel O. Dahlstrom

Source: The Review of Metaphysics, Vol. 47, No. 4 (Jun., 1994), pp. 775-795
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HEIDEGGER'S METHOD: PHILOSOPHICAL CONCEPTS

AS FORMAL INDICATIONS
DANIEL O. DAHLSTROM
To give them as much credit as possible, words possess
only sufficient
efficacy to remind us in order that we may seek things, but not to exhibit
the things that we know by them.
Augustine,

I_n
may

1929, after rejecting

to feel
be expected

Protestant

suggestion
"threatened"

Christians

contemporary

criticisms,

by Kierkegaard's
remarks:
Kuhlmann

Gerhardt

theologian

that

the

De magistro.1

the

is terrified instead about the fact

But present-day
perhaps
Christianity
of its theology put out as revelation,
that everything
that the spokesmen
of
to the original Christian and reformational
understanding
according
devoid of mythologizing,
the term, has been set forth by a philosopher
that is to say, exactly and profanely.2
One

of

the

whether

Heidegger

mann

purge

suggests,

mythological
launched

against
of
appropriation

what
an

he

atheistic

the

by
of existence

Kierkegaard's
Kuhlmann's

element.3

is
paper
following
in fact, as Kuhl
does

raised

ultimately
in his analysis

questions

thought
remark
as

regards
existential

or
theological
of a broader
salvo

of every
is part

naive
contemporaries'
that reduces
the
analysis

his

tan
"Hactenus verba valuerunt, quibus ut plurimum tribuam, admonent
non
ut
S.
exhibent
tum ut quaeremus
res,
Operum,
Augustini
noverimus";
the
Latinae Tomus 32 (Paris: Migne,
1841), 1215; Concerning
Patrologiae
Teacher and On the Immortality
of the Soul, trans. George G. Leckie (New
York: Appleton-Century-Crofts,
1958), 46.
2
vielmehr dar?ber,
"Aber vielleicht
die heutige Christenheit
erschrickt
nach urchrist
ihrer Theologie
als Offenbarung
da? all das, was die Wortf?hrer
von einem Philosophen
Verst?ndnis
lichen und reformatorischen
ausgeben,
also exakt und profan hergestellt
ohne Mythologisierung,
wird"; Gerhardt
Problem
der
Existenz
"Zum
Kuhlmann,
(Frage an R. Bult
theologischen
10, no. 1 (1929): 51n. Unless
f?r Theologie und Kirche
mann)," Zeitschrift
are my own.
a translation
is indicated all translations
3
49 and n. 1. This purging
"Zum theologischen
Problem,"
Kuhlmann,
or "profane rendering"
Kuhlmann
argues, effectively?
(Profanisierung),
even if inadvertently?exposes
error" of confusing existential
"Kierkegaard's
analysis with theology.
Review
Metaphysics

of Metaphysics

47

(June

1994):

775-795.

Copyright

1994

by

the Review

of

776

DANIEL O. DAHLSTROM
of faith

phenomena

and

to the

revelation

"projection"

of

(Entwurf)

Dasein}
The

following
in an opposite

but

moves

paper
direction.

a path similar
is concerned,
paper

along
The

to Kuhlmann's,
not with Chris

tian theologians'

of Heidegger's
but rather with
appropriation
analysis,
of Christian
method.
In lectures
appropriation
theology's

Heidegger's
delivered

at Marburg
and in others given both
in
afterwards
Freiburg,
Heidegger
specifically
a
to
that
is
say,
dicatory" method,
philosophical
or signalling"
certain
by "formally
indicating

before
and
immediately
a "formally
outlines
in
method
that proceeds

methodical
Heidegger's
ture of this method
tion,

how

in his

reflections
and

it is appropriated

on
to show,
from what

The

phenomena.

pose of the following paper is to reconstruct,

principally

lectures,
the basis

pur

in light of

the genesis
and na
that reconstruc

of

he understands

by Christian

theology.

Central
dition

is his

to Heidegger's
that
charge

criticism

of the Western

it has

tra

philosophical
over" the world

as
repeatedly
"passed
a phenomenon
as a collection
in favor of nature,
conceived
of sub
or things present.5
stances
this
Dominating
prevailing
conception,
to Heidegger,
as the
is meta-physics,
understood
according
loosely
as they are in some
to regard
insofar
tendency
things as being
only
sense

and thus potentially

to human
available
and accessible
present
concerns.
His contemporaries'
for the integrity
of the hu
arguments
manities
and historical
studies
in
the
face of
(Geisteswissenschaften)
the demand
of nature

for the unity

of a single

method
come

drawn

up short

from

(Naturwissenschaften),
as do the myriad
to refute
attempts
to the same ontological
subscribe

They come up short,

because
they tacitly

the sciences

in Heidegger's

eyes.

psychologism,
assumption

as

4
"Zum theologischen
50-1.
Problem,"
5Kuhlmann,
Martin Heidegger,
Sein und Zeit
Nie
(hereafter,
"SZ") (T?bingen:
zur Geschichte
des Zeit
meyer,
1972), 63-6; Martin Heidegger, Prolegomena
begriffes
(hereafter,
"PGZ"), 2d ed., ed. Petra Jaeger, vol. 20 of the Gesam
1925 (Frankfurt am Main:
tausgabe: Marburg lectures of the summer semester
Vittorio Klostermann,
The Gesamtausgabe
is cited hereafter
1988), 231-51.
as GA followed by the volume number and by the year of its publication
in
all volumes of the GA are published
in Frankfurt
parentheses;
by Klostermann
am

Main.

111

HEIDEGGER'S METHOD

else something
whatever
On that assumption,
may
opponents.6
for it "to be" is for it to be present
it means
said to be, what
or, in
sense
in the broadest
of the term,
to be a scientific
other words,
object
or
over
some
of
knowing
standing
against
namely,
capable
something
their

be

subject

researching

ein Gegenstand).

(gegen?berstehend,

neglect of the world

Philosophical

is thus inHeidegger's

eyes the

"to be" means,

of what
of the forgottenness
which,
despite
expression
with
the mere
of any
is not to be confused
the tradition,
presence
same.
can
of the
Nor
the re
particular
thing or being or collection
trieval
not

"to be" means

of what

a science

that concerns

be

the provenance
some object
itself with
In a muscular

latter

is or can

be

sweep

of which

the philosophical

present.

of science,
at least
only insofar as the

historical

community

narrative,
has not witnessed

the
since

the likes of Hegel or Nietzsche, Heidegger recounts the difficult infancy

idea of a science
of
in the classical
Greek
of this Seinsvergessenheit
in
context
of
the
medieval
the
sciences
its
adolescence
dreamy
being,
of theology,
ern scientific

its maturation

in the unabashed

of the mod

subjectivism

its domination

of nature")

and, finally,
project
("mastery
as technology
in the twentieth
century.
as well
as historical
to Heidegger's
dimension
is a logical
There
or
as
a more
to regard
The tendency
basically
critique.
everything

less objectifiable presence

is facilitated, he insists, by the logical prej

as the property
of a certain
class of
solely
in other words,
is the
The logical prejudice,
as
or judgments
the distinctive
assertions
forms

truth
of construing
or
assertions.
judgments

udice

proclivity
of logos
Heidegger

to privilege
of bearing
truth (Wahrheitstr?ger).7
capable
understands
ways
them, are communicable

and specifying something

cording
matically

to the
the

(specifying

prejudice
of a
predicate
logical

out

it by way of predication).8

Ac

mentioned
sentence

as

Assertions,
of pointing

above,
designating

"true"
a

is paradig

judgment

or

6
Martin Heidegger, Logik: Die Frage nach der Wahrheit
"Lo
(hereafter,
semester
lectures of the winter
1925/26,
gik"), ed. Walter Biemel, Marburg

GA 21 (1976), 92.
7

existen
aspects of Heidegger's
Certainly one of the most controversial
as
is his appeal to a private logos, namely, the call of conscience
tial analysis
or authentic
the
truth.
the privileged
of
This
of
aspect
logos
Heidegger's
can
for deception
and of public discourse's
proclivities
analysis of conscience
and "the beautiful
be fruitfully compared with Hegel's account of conscience
soul's" regard for language; see G. W. F. Hegel, Ph?nomenologie
des Geistes,
ed. Hans-Friedrich
Wessels
and Heinrich Clairmont
(Hamburg: Felix Meiner,
1988), 428-42.
8SZ, 154-8; Logik, 133-4.

DANIEL O. DAHLSTROM

778
and

assertion,

is legitimately

some thing or object

predicated

is or is believed

of

such

a sentence

to be present

if

only

in precisely

the

or assertion
indicates
and specifies.
that the respective
way
judgment
to point
out something
that purport
in
labels assertions
Heidegger
or "theoretical"
sofar as it is present
Such
"thematic"
assertions.9
are central

assertions

its objects.
or theology,

tigates
matics

cal or practical.
Of the many

physics

itself

or psychology,

entertains

or whether

the fundamental

a science?

be mathe

it be

ontology
use
it not make

undertaken
of thematic

theoreti

be chal
are

means
these

self

in Being
and
or theoretical

to indicate,

and communicate
what
specify,
as the
case of Daseint
in the paradigmatic
Insofar
is presumed,
is not that meaning
of "to be"
assertions

assertions

in order

Does

inves

and

the science

on which Heidegger's
critique might
grounds
and most
trenchant
the most
obvious

perhaps
lenged,
Is not
referential.
Time

to the way
that a science
whether
It does not matter

"to be"
truth

of

thereby
suc
that
does
Or,
systematically
objectified?
Heidegger
an
of
in
that
and
ceed
interplay
presencing
absencing
demonstrating
means
it
for
constitutes
what
the
respectively
humans,
fundamentally
to the extent

and even things ready-to-hand

world,
of the
committed
to the presence
method
Heidegger's
from any other?
In the

world,

investigating

is the demonstration

not

should
Why,
indeed,
interplay?10
means
what
be different
"to be"

was by no means
lost on Heidegger.
challenge
summer
semester
his charge
that the
of 1925, after repeating
over
the
of the
tradition
has
phenomena
passed
philosophical
he ponders:

This

Western

of

"to be,"

self-referential

in a positive way?
to be determined
Yet how, then, is the world
structure
to
the
of the world,
be
said
about
is something
supposed

How
given

9
three levels or
(p. 156n.) Heidegger
distinguishes
SZ, 158; in Logik
to which a theoretical
about some
assertion
modes
of assertions
according
an
constitutes
"extreme."
thing present-at-hand
10
to articulate a clearing (Lichtung)
attempts
Subsequently,
Heidegger
that is neither present nor absent, and comes into its own (ereignet sich) in
in
to the presence/absence
a way irreducible
and manifestness/hiddenness
"Was hei?t denken?" and Martin
terplays; see, for example, Martin Heidegger,
"Aletheia
16)," in Vortr?ge und Aufs?tze
(Heraklit, Fragment
Heidegger,
Zur
136-7,
264, 268; Martin Heidegger,
Neske,
1954), 128-9,
(Pfullingen:
Sache des Denkens
1976), 20-5, 72-4; Martin Heideg
(T?bingen: Niemeyer,
1971), 97. For a useful re
ger, Was hei?t Denkend
(T?bingen: Niemeyer,
sume of these efforts see Thomas Pr?fer, "Glosses on Heidegger's
Architec
in Philosophy
in Thomas Pr?fer, Recapitulations:
tonic Word-Play,"
Essays
of America Press, 1993), 107-9.
D. C: The Catholic University
(Washington,

779

HEIDEGGER'S METHOD
that above all, from the outset,
extreme objectification?11

we

shun every

theory

and precisely

this

These queries of 1925 are not the first or the last time that Heidegger
entertained
account,
tainly

the

self-referential
does

not

Heidegger
does have a method.12
and

methodology
1919 and
between

to his method.
challenge
a methodology,
have
exactly
between
Lying somewhere
are

his method

1930, in the
to this challenge
to respond
by
or way of
acter of his method
semester
In the summer

several

course
invoking

"methodical

By his own
but he cer
a full-blown
reflections"13

of which

he repeatedly
attempts
the "formally
char
indicative"

conceiving
things.14
he acknowledges
of 1930, for example,
to words,
is committed
it is exposed
That
mis
its
essential
content."
of

that, as soon as philosophizing

to an "essential misinterpretation
the view
is precisely
interpretation
been
degger

has

articulated,
sets for himself

to be taken
the goal

as it has
that everything,
insofar
for something
Hei
present-at-hand.
to
of "being able, at least relatively,

also observes:
"Also f?r die Philosophie
handelt
11PGZ, 251. Heidegger
es sich gerade um radikalste Erhellung?philosophisches
kategorial-untheo
Martin Heidegger,
retisches Aufbrechen";
Interpretati
Ph?nomenologische
onen zu Aristoteles,
in die ph?nomenologische
Einf?hrung
Forschung
(here
and K?te Br?ckwer-Oltmanns,
after, "P/?"), ed. Walter Br?cker
Early Frei
lectures of the winter semester
1921/22, GA 61 (1985), 198.
burg 12
der Faktizit?t),
Martin Heidegger,
ed. K?te
(Hermeneutik
Ontologie
Br?cker-Oltmanns,
Early Freiburg lectures of the summer semester
1923, GA

63 (1988), 79.
13

SZ, 27-8, 310-16; PIA, 157.

und Theolo
19-20, 61-2; Martin Heidegger,
UPIA,
"Ph?nomenologie
2d ed. (Frankfurt am Main: Vittorio
Wegmarken,
gie," in Martin Heidegger,
use of formale
has been
Klostermann,
1983), 65-6.
Anzeige
Heidegger's
discussed
and van Dijk; see Otto P?ggeler,
"Hei
by P?ggeler, Oudemanns,
in
Martin
und
Innenlogische
Heidegger:
deggers
Untersuchungen,"
W. Kohler, W. Kuhlmann,
ed. R. Blasche,
and P. Rohs
Au?enansichten,
C. W. Oudemans,
1989), 75-100; Theodore
(Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp,
Studies 6 (1990): 85-105;
Heidegger
"Heideggers
'logische Untersuchungen',"
R. J. A. van Dyk, "Grundbegriffe
der Metaphysik:
Zur formalanzeigenden
Struktur der philosophischen
bei
7
Studies
Begriffe
Heidegger," Heidegger
Gadamer
refers to Heidegger's
earlier, frequent use of the
(1991): 89-109.
see Hans-Georg
notion of a "formale Anzeige";
"Die religi?se Di
Gadamer,
in Hans-Georg
mension"
Gadamer, Heideggers
Wege
(1981),
(T?bingen:
J. C. B. Mohr, 1983), 148. Gadamer also addresses
the general issue of Hei
language in his "Heidegger und die Sprache der Me
degger's nonobjectifying
III (T?bingen: J. C. B.
Gadamer, Kleinere
taphysik," in Hans-Georg
Schriften
There is also extensive
discussion
of the notion of a
Mohr, 1972), 212-30.
in Theodore
"formale Anzeige"
Kisiel, The Genesis
of Heidegger's
Being and
Time (Berkeley
and Los Angeles: University
of California
Press,
1993); re
grettably, a copy of Kisiel's dense and helpful study first came into my hands
of the present article.
after completion

DANIEL O. DAHLSTROM

780
elude"
sary

that misinterpretation;
to reflect on the general

they are all formally

At the beginning

plication";
fundamental
among

"a specific
in the formal
sense

of

observational

method

clear

of pointing

all

that

he

regards

the

"formal

to some

time
tion

that would

foreclose

pursuit

and

connections
to ex

declines

his use

essay,

indication"

of

as a

its preliminary
fixing
at the same
it, while

way
phenomenon,
manner
of unpacking
and the corresponding
"uncritical
into some
any
lapse"
deflecting

sense

of

Jaspers's
refers to a "formal
in
Heidegger
ex
of
of
the
method
step
phenomenological
. .
he maintains,
"a methodical.
indication,

concepts
philosophical
is to be seen."16
Though
Heidegger
in the context
further
of the Jaspers

makes

r?visable

"it is neces
end," he observes,
of philosophical
that
concepts,

or signalling
[formal
indicating
anzeigend].'915
on the
in his critical
of the same period,
remarks

as

concepts
the notion

plain
the notion

character

and
preconceptions
der Weltanschauungen,

problematic
Psychologie
dication"

"to this

of

"a genuine

specific
of
sense"

concep
the phe

nomenon.17

understands
Heidegger
elaborated
thereafter
shortly

What
sively

by a "formal
in the winter

indication"
semester

is exten
of 1921/22.18

15
Die Grundbegriffe
der Metaphysik
Martin Heidegger,
(hereafter,
lectures of the winter
Freiburg
"GM"), ed. Friedrich Wilhelm von Herrmann,
use of the ex
semester
One customary
1929/30, GA 29/30 (1983), 422, 430.
some sort of reference
is to characterize
that provides
"indication"
pression
and inference.
the starting point for further examination
Along these lines,
a use of "Anzeige"
there is a specific use of the term in medicine
paralleling
as to the treatment of
or direction
"A suggestion
(Oxford English Dictionary
a disease,
to this
which
derived from the symptoms
observed"),
according
the first use of the term in English.
is apparently
Nevertheless,
dictionary
in no way has the same rich array of uses as does "Anzeige."
"indication"
to "Anzeige" are captured by the term
Some of the connotations
attaching
as
it is translated here sometimes
"signal," taken in a broad sense; hence,
an "Anzeige" may
as "signal."
More specifically,
sometimes
"indication,"
an announcement
a notice served or a warning,
(for example, of a
designate
a public
or a death), an advertisement
the "personals"),
(including
wedding
or
a
a
of
stock
of
declaration
bankruptcy,
typically
(for example,
offering
or a prospectus.
in a newspaper),
At various
times Heidegger
appearing
or more
accents
in his use
to one
of "formale
of these
appeals
Anzeige." 16

first refers to a "formally indicat

9-11, 29. Heidegger's
Wegmarken,
in regard to fixing the sense
Bedeutung)
(formed anzeigende
ing meaning"
of the term "method"; he then speaks of the object of the inquiry "fixed in a
Cf. also PIA, 141.
formal indication as existence."
11
11.
Wegmarken,
18
sus
the most
These early Freiburg
lectures
(PIA) contain perhaps
as far as his philosophical
tained self-reflexive
deliberations
by Heidegger,
is concerned.
method
reading for anyone trying to un
They are obligatory

HEIDEGGER'S METHOD
These

lectures

make

781

clear what

had in mind when

he re
Heidegger
as "a specific
ferred in the Jaspers
indication
essay to the formal
step
of the method
of phenomenological
and
"a methodical
explication"
. . . fundamental
sense of all philosophical
That "funda
concepts."
as
mental
of philosophical
sense"
insofar
concepts
they are "formal
is based

indications"

upon

ject of an interpretation

must

the phenomenological
be so articulated

that

insight that the ob

the determination

of the object (in what sense it is) must emerge from the manner
one

which
originally

"has"

originally
becomes
accessible

(wie

The "object" of philosophy

g?nglich wird).19
means"

in the case

nothing
unthematic

but a way

itself is "what 'to be'

of such "having";
in other words,
philosophizing
of comporting
to an original,
oneself
unreflected
an attempt
to "have"
comportment,
(unabgehobenen)
the

"understand"

latter

in

is to say, the manner

in which
it
der Gegenstand
zu
urspr?nglich

it, that

is
or
or

authentically.20
such
locutions

as "having"
"com
(haben),
or
em
to
in
order
porting"
(verhalten),
"understanding"
(verstehen)
that that original,
unthematic
is for
phasize
"having" or "comporting"
some
sort
the most
not
of
meditative
act
of
part
deliberate,
knowing
chooses

Heidegger

Instead

something.

those

locutions

practical,

any way?theoretical,
signify
a human
and so on?in
which

playful,
devotional,
tender,
to something,
relate
a natural
whether
might
himself,
another,
an
an
a
a
mathematical
scientific
object,
artifact,
artwork,
formula,
a dream,
and so on.
The task of philosophy
is to deter
hypothesis,
being

mine

what

determination
and

precise
lates to each
in an

"to be" means

is possible
fundamental
of them

important

only
way

case

of

any

of

(where

latter

and

this

or

the
"retrieving"
re
exists
and
being
this existing
are
and relating

by understanding
a human
in which

respectively

the

sense

cludes,
philosophy's
and radical,"
indeed,
ing it is what

in the

con
logically
Thus, Heidegger
equivalent).
of relating
to its object
is "utterly original
way
such "that even and precisely
the grasp
through

it grasps

and

grasps

what

it is."21

Since

philosophy's

derstand Heidegger's method during the first decade of his professional

career
and his attempts at that time to answer the self-referential
posed
challenges
tradition.
by his 19own critique of the Western
philosophical
27.
20PIA, 18-19, 20, 23; SZ,
Later Heidegger
that original "having" or "comportment"
associates
with what Aristotle
inMetaphysics
as thigein and nous, con
9.10 describes
strued as the prepropositional
having in which what cannot be differentiated
and thus is not subject to predication
discloses
itself (alMhein);
(asyntheta)
see Logik, 179-90.
21
PIA, 60-1; cf. pp. 41-2, 51, 53-4.

782

DANIEL O. DAHLSTROM
"to be" means

is what

"object"

it cannot
portment,
from the outside.
(or more

exactly,

"have"

(understand,

Instead

philosophy
that original,

reenact)

context

of

retrieve)
must
itself

com
original
as it were
its object
that

carry

unthematic

out

"having,"

or enact
so as to

it explicitly.22

appropriate

for this reason

Precisely
as
formal
indications
concepts
some

toward

tively

in the

original

characterizes
Heidegger
philosophical
or signals,
respec
concepts
pointing
task to
comportment,
yet as "a concrete

be completed or performed by [philosophizing] alone" (eine eigene

konkrete VoUzugsaufgabe).23 What is thereby indicated is not given
"in any

and actual

A philo
only "in principle."
sense and hence
in a certain
is accordingly
concept
sophical
"empty"
it
"formal"?"formal"
because
in
the
direction
of some
purely
points
complete

thing that must be performed

by the philosopher,

perfected
the philosophical

but

sense"

or gone through and even fulfilled or

a direction,
moreover,
or "theme"
itself.24
Thus,

"object"
the depiction
of some fact (Sachverhalt),
but
of a way of approaching
what
"to be" means.25

not

that springs
from
Sein und Zeit
is

rather

an indication

II

In Heidegger's
indication"
First,

two

it points

any preemptive

use

and characterization

of the notion

of a "formal

functions
be delineated.
may
principal,
overlapping
to a phenomenon
in such a way
that it eryoins
against
or external
of it.
characterization

The formal indication prevents

any drifting off into blindly dogmatic
fixations of the categorial meaning
for the intrinsic determinacies
of a
kind of object, while what
'to be' means
in its case has not been dis
in other words,
that are independent
and detached
cussed;
fixations,
22
see also note 1 above.
23 Ibid., 60-1, 80, 169-71;
PIA, 34, 60-1; the German ear may well hear the notion of a prospect
in this use of the "Anzeige"; see note 15 above.
In describing
the philosoph
ical act and, as discussed
relies heavily
below, the act of believing, Heidegger
on the terms "vollziehen"
and "Vollzug."
As in the case of "Anzeige" it is
to note connotations
that are not conveyed
important
by a single term in
In "Vollziehen"
there is a sense of executing,
English.
carrying out, and
but also a sense of accomplishing,
and fulfilling.
performing
perfecting,
24
58.
25PIA, 32-4, 51,
in Sein
repeatedly
Heidegger
employs the notion of a formal indication
see SZ, 52-3, 114, 116
und Zeit, without,
any further explanation;
however,
see Oudemanns,
17, 179, 231, 313-15;
"Heideggers
'logische Untersuchun
gen',"

85.

783

HEIDEGGER'S METHOD
the preconception,

from the presupposition,

of the interpretation.26

to this function
refers
Heidegger
tive"
(hinweisend-prohibitive)
garded
as

cept

as a specific
instance
a formal
indication

of a philosophical

concept

as the

explicitly
function.27

of this
is said

[Korrektion, that is,Mitleitung]

the context,

"referring-prohibi
be

re

might
(In what
the philosophical

con

a corrective

guide

function,
to provide

to theology.28)

as a formal

and the time

The second function

indication

is to reverse

the

a reversal
is entertained,
whatever
of objectifying
that
customary
who
transforms
the individual
this sec
philosophizes.
Accordingly,
to as the "reversing-transforming"
is referred
ond function
function.29
way

The first of these functions illuminates why Heidegger utilizes the

two

terms

"indicating"

and

"formal."

The

indicating

as a pointing

is preliminary (Ansatz); it is binding for

(anzeigend als hinweisend)
the investigation, giving it direction and principles, but as preliminary
is not

itself meant

object

of the

phasize

that

cation,
tomary
26

to specify

investigation.30
the philosophical

is not predetermined?or
or arbitrary ways.31

or "authentic"
sense
in any adequate
the
The term "formal"
to em
is employed
as it is a formal
insofar
indi
concept,
at
Thus

least

Heidegger

not

in any

number

lays great weight

of cus
on the

von In
in eigenst?ndige,
"Die formale Anzeige verwehrt
jede Abdrift
Interpretationszusam
Interpretationsvorgriff,
terpretationsvoraussetzung,
und Interpretationszeit
blind dogmatische
Fixationen
des
menhang
abgel?ste,
un
Sinnes zu Ansichbestimmtheiten
einer auf ihren Seinssinn
kategorialen
142.
diskutierten
PIA,
Gegenst?ndlichkeit";
27
This function of the philosophical
PIA, 34, 141-2.
concept as a "for
mal indication" comprises
the Husserlian
way of appropriating
Heidegger's
For Heidegger's
account of the transcendental
and eidetic reduc
epoch?.
tions elaborated by Husserl see PGZ, 135-39.
An excellent discussion
of the
Husserlian
Husserlian
Medita
epoch? is to be found in Robert Sokolowski,
tions: How Words Present Things (Evanston: Northwestern
University
Press,
1974), 28172-81.
igt das formal anzeigende
Korrektiv des on
"Philosophie
ontologische
zwar
und
vorchristlichen
des
Gehaltes
tischen,
theologischen
Grundbegriffe";
65.
Wegmarken,
29
rpjie "reversal" function amplifies
and clarifies the "prohibitive"
func
tion by indicating that the bracketing
involved
"ist
nicht
(Ausschaltung)
getan
mit einem einmaligen methodischen
Diktat, sondern sie ist der mit dem Voll
zug des Philosophierens
st?ndig gleichzeitliche
Kampf der philosophischen
faktischen
ihre
faktische
153.
Interpretation
gegen
eigene
Ruinanz"; PIA,
While the first function, as an appropriation
of the Husserlian
epoch?, may
be regarded as phenomenological,
the second
is theological
in a
function
sense that w?l be made clearer below.
30
32.
31PIA,
"F?r den Anzeige- und Verweisungscharakter
besagt die Bestimmung

DANIEL O. DAHLSTROM

784
fact

the

that

he

concepts

employs

are neither

nor

"formally
logical"
say,
(or, one might

but "formally
"for
indicating"
in
Formal
his
not
at
formal
all
view,
really
logic is,
signalling").
a
it springs from
that has already
been deter
region of objects
manner
of comprehension?"assembling
and a corresponding

"formally
mally
since
mined

thematic,"

so as to put

a "formally
Similarly,
(ordnendes
Sammeln)32
use of "neighboring"
makes
schemata
and
interpretation
access
the original
to the
instead of itself retrieving
notions,
or
what
is
indicated
is not
"formally
By contrast,
signalled"

thematic"
"settled"
objects.33
as
given

in order"

contrast,
comparison,
is understandable
dicated"
or carries

out

some

activity
characterized
concepts
first
this
function.
exemplify

manner
"I," while

of being
that
at the same

of

understandable
what

insofar
only
himself.

Several
tions"

and

already
complete
and classification;

something

through
is "formally
in

instead,
as the philosopher

performs

as "formal
by Heidegger
The "am" in "I am" points

indica
to the

is involved,
attention
away from the
deflecting
time insuring
that it not be taken as an instance
ex
The concept
of "death"
refers
to the most

is."34
"something
treme possibility
in terms
at
while
the same
himself,

of which

a human

being

can

understand

a conception
of
thereby
precluding
as something
of the her
The "as-structure"
death
present-at-hand.35
or
as
in
meneutical
is
involved
understanding
taking
using something
such

and

such,

for

example,

time

using

something

as a chair

or using

'leer' bedeutet:
und doch ent
'formal' etwas Entscheidendes!
Gegenstand
sondern gerade
'leer' und Rich
Nicht beliebig und ohne Ansatz,
scheidend!
33.
PIA,
bindend";
tung bestimmend,
anzeigend,
32
PIA, 20, 162-4, 178. Even the principle of noncontradiction,
Heideg
in this connection,
is conditioned
contends
by a "specific logic of order
ger
see pp. 163-4.
ing"; 33
174.
34PIA, 80,
SZ, 116. The
10-11, 29-30; PIA, 172-4; see, however,
Wegmarken,
in PIA is extensive:
and the "formally indicative"
list of "formal indications"
of philosophy"
"the definition
(pp. 20, 32, 43, 59-60, 63, 66, 72); "determina
and "con
tions" and "observations,"
specifically
"comportment"
regarding
of philosophizing"
tent" (pp. 52-3, 55); "the determinations
(pp. 57, 183); "to
be" (p. 61), "caring" (pp. 89-90, 98); "the object of philosophy,"
namely, what
of starting for an "exis
in life, facticity
"to be" means
(p. 113); the method
of the
tenziellen
Interpretation"
(p. 134); the characterization
kategorialen
nature of the act of caring (p. 137); the characteristics
of "ruin
kairological
and the "counter-movement,"
ation" (Ruinanz)
namely, philosophy
(pp. 140
1,183); "nothing" (p. 145); the way of illuminating the sense of a philosophical
of the theme (Gegen
"life" and the definition
(pp. 158-9);
presupposition
"I
am"
and
the
"am I?" (pp.
of
question
philosophy
(p.
171),
st?ndlichkeit)
174-5).35
GM, 425-9;

cf. SZ, 240.

HEIDEGGER'S METHOD
as

chair

not

to sit on

something
construes

Heidegger
to emphasize
rashly

that

785

this

or

to stand on, and so on.

something
as
a
formal
"as-structure"
indication
in order

this relation

must

to the derivative

assimilated

be grasped
relation

on

its own

of two

terms,

things

and

presum

ably present together and capable of being so indicated and specified

(predicated) in a theoretical judgment.36
These

it evident,
if it is not so already,
make
that Hei
on the formality
of philosophical
is some
concepts
are
not
understood
concepts
Philosophical
clearly

examples

emphasis
degger's
what misleading.
by him as being so devoid
errant

determinations

presumptive

concept's
cipled"
themes

of content

to preclude
they are unable
of their meaning.
A philosophical
that

is, as he puts it, a "binding"

referring
(Hinweis)
as his remarks
one.37 Moreover,
about formal logic
as formal

reveal, philosophical
concepts
of objects
presupposed
by

indications

and "prin
and formal
exclude

at
concepts
specific
sciences?insofar,
as
the
means
into
what
case
in
"to
be"
the
of these objects
least,
inquiry
access
the original
to them) has been put off or ignored.
(and, thereby,

The methodological
governed

losophy.
to the second

(the
dence
we

ascribed by Heidegger

as formal
indications
concepts
his
by
specific
understanding
This characteristic
is perhaps

sophical

strives

functions

function

of the formal

for an understanding
of "to be"),
significance
that words

speak
(with
about.

talking

even more

concepts
what
they

point

evident

in regard

indication.

Because
philosophy
of something
that is highly questionable
it stands
in conflict with
the easy confi

and that, when

customary
usage are reliable
or ourselves),
we generally
know what we are
as "philo
that Heidegger
understands
concepts
are not, at least for the most
"formal indications"

in their
others
The

sophical"
and, hence,
or technical
part, neologisms
concepts.
derived
from the way of life that informs
because
of this origin, however,
Precisely
"formal

to philo

are thus, as is to be expected,

of the aim and content
of phi

as a warning
at all common.38

indications"
to is not

they are themselves

use of language.
the normal

Instead

such
Heidegger
designates
access
that authentic
to
In fact,

that access

runs

36
424-5.
37GM,
168-9.
PIA,
19-25, 56-61,
38
See note 15 above.
The formalization
of everyday expressions
cre
a certain distance
to them, allowing us to
ates, as Oudemans
aptly observes,
look at them.
"In diesem Mitgehen mit der Durchschnittlichkeit
des Allt?g
lichen und mit der ?berlieferten
versucht Heidegger
durch For
Ontologie
der Begriffe
zu lassen"; Oude
eine gewisse Distanz
entstehen
malisierung
99.
manns,
"Heideggers
'logische Untersuchungen',"

786

DANIEL O. DAHLSTROM

to the customary
into the usual ways
of con
(Sturz)
"plunge"
the talk is less than explicit
and the interpre
sidering
things, where
tation remains
The
and
factual necessity
very "possibility
implicit.39

counter

...

as the method
one must
the formal
indication
from which
as
in
he
this
he
would
later
in
it
Sein
und Zeit,
put
begin"
"plunge" or,
in the "fallenness"
of human
to
in the propensity
existence,
namely,
some
to
the
of
In
other
the
yield
anonymity
public
words,
opinion.40
is required
to invert the normal
and way
of
philosopher
perspective
of

questions,

posing
erally

toward
the gen
away from particular
namely,
beings
and unexamined
horizon
within
which
they are re

unspoken
encountered
spectively

and

the manner
of being
that they do.
as "fife" and "existence"
direct attention

have

indications
such
Thus, formal
to a specific
but unthematized
and implicit meaning
of "to be," a mean
a
of which,
because
it is unthematized,
ing the understanding
requires
certain
reversal.41
In these
into

lectures
how
elaborates
the "plunge"
early
Heidegger
is a "movement"
characteristic
of the way we
in fact
we
are
on
care of ourselves,
live:
bent
but on the
taking

the world

typically
world's

is to say, in terms of what

in the eyes
that means
a
we
no
As
result,
ourselves,
longer are familiar with
even when
on
confronted
with
the other
ourselves.42
Philosophy,
counter
is "a movement
to this plunge
into the world"
hand,
running
movement
This
atten
directs
(eine gegenruinante
Bewegtheit)}3
terms,
of the world.

tion,

to be

sure,

that

at what

it means

"to be" within

the

concrete

situ

39
For Heidegger's
definition
of this "plunge"
"formally-indicating"
see PIA, 131, 136-7, 139-40,
143-55.
(Sturz)40 or ruination (Ruinanz)
unaus
Leben erhellt,
in irgendwelcher
"Sofern alles im faktischen
dr?cklicher
Rede steht, in unabgehobener
faktischer ruinanter Interpretation
. .der formalen
und faktische Notwendigkeit.
'ist', liegt darin die M?glichkeit
. . ."; PIA,
als Ansatzmethode
134.
mentions
four
Anzeige
Heidegger
in PIA, 140-1.
characters
of ruination
"formally-indicative
[Ruinanz]"
41
88.
42GM, 430; PIA, 19-20, 80,
here is the content
PIA, 136; cf. pp. 130-2,142.
Plainly foreshadowed
of the structural division of inauthenticity
and authenticity
(or, perhaps bet
so central to the argu
ter, not being and being my own self: Eigentlichkeit)
ment and rhetoric of Sein und Zeit.
In this connection
Oudemans
identifies
a noteworthy
shift in Heidegger's
In the early Freiburg years, he
thinking.
as the paradoxical
is depicted
movement
both within
contends,
philosophy
and counter to the total movement
of Ruinanz,
only by pushing
succeeding
as and by "emptiness" and "nothingness."
the latter to its limits, characterized
in SZ Heidegger
ascribes a distinct
By contrast,
topos to authenticity
and,
refers to a prevailing
indifference
toward in
perhaps more fundamentally,
as well as authenticity;
authenticity
Oudemanns,
"Heideggers
'logische Un
101-4.
91-3,
tersuchungen',"
43
PIA, 153.

787

HEIDEGGER'S METHOD

can make
this meaning
clear,
Philosophy
"the most
fundamentally
appropriate
however,
only by articulating
"
sense
des Seinssinns)
and
of what
it means
'to be'
(das Ureigene
to life.44
To
and its "binding
character"
that meaning
by bringing
ations

out

carry

this

task

life.

"Philosophy
in each
philosophy
from

its downfall
is itself

ing,

is, in Heidegger's
is a fundamental

re-trieves
authentically
[Abfall], a taking back which,

also

noted,

is initially unthematic
one's
comportment
equivalently,

what

and,
it in the winter

puts

the basis

semester

of a transformation

of 1929/30,

of human

At the end of Heidegger's

he employs
cifically
sertions.

of an "indication"

the notion

phenomenological,
While
the worldly

One

in

oneself

and world.
itmust

can

As

Hei

be understood

itself only in and

Dasein."46

lectures of the 1925/26 winter semester

categorial"
assertions

at-hand,
phenomenological,
as something
present-at-hand,

in order
assertions

to distinguish
"spe
as
from "worldly"

present
point out something
assertions
refer to Dasein,
not

categorial
the understanding
of
but as something
or
on
a
the
of
the
reversal
thinker.47
part
transposition
requires
concedes
that, insofar as the "phenomenologi
again Heidegger

which
Once
cal,

search

a trans

entails

philosophizing.
without
putting

that "what philosophy deals with generally discloses

on

it back

life, taking
as a radical

life."45

thematize

degger

the philosophical
of living itself, such that

case

reversal

question

to live

eyes,
manner

as already
(Umstellung),
individual
of
the
(Verwandlung)

This
formation
not

life.

of everyday

categorial

worldly

assertion"

(apophantic)

present-at-hand."48

it shares
is articulated,
and thereby means

assertion
However,

the

structure

"something

of a
at first

he adds:

even if it is made
A worldly
assertion about something present-at-hand,
in the context of a mere naming, can directly mean what has been said,
while an assertion about Dasein
each assertion about
and furthermore
assertion
in order
requires,
being, each [phenomenological]
categorial
a reversal
to be understood,
the reversal of the understanding,
in the
direction
of what has been indicated, which
is never some
essentially
thing

present-at-hand.49

44
168-9.
45PIA,
cf. p. 88.
PIA,
80;
46
423.
GM,
47
In order to avoid possible
it should be noted that this use
confusion,
of "specifically phenomenological,
is replaced in Sein und Zeit by
categorial"
the use of "existential"
and contrasted with the use of "categorial."
Heideg
in the winter semester of 1925/26.
ger is48
plainly groping for terminology
410.
49Logik,
"Eine weltliche
auch wenn
?ber Vorhandenes,
sie in einem
Aussage

DANIEL O. DAHLSTROM

788
The uphill task that Heidegger
be

to kick

able

away

the very
concepts,

sertions,
"objectifying"
make
his climb.

sets for himself

ladder
and

He must

is obvious.
or

("worldly"
so on) on which

as

"theoretical"
he

to

is forced

own perspective,
this ladder may be character
Heidegger's
as a "scientific
in
it
this regard
and
is
that Heidegger's
method,"
of a "formal indication"
and a "formally
indicative method"
conception
From

ized

takes on added significance.

Throughout

the decade

of the 1920s

the sort of investigation

cautiously
appropri
distinguished
Heidegger
own
ate to specific
from
his
sciences
inves
("ontic")
("ontological")
of "to be."
He did not eschew
the term
into the meanings
tigations
in characterizing
his own project,
however.
in the summer
semester
scientific
philosophy"

"science"
to "our

following
declares

as the science,
philosophy
of being,
the latter
indeed,
characterizing
In the final Marburg
lectures
"objectification
[sic] of being."51
to speak of a "philosophical
later he continues
science."52

the summer
even

the

as the
a year

referring
1925, Hei
of lectures
the
of

the philosophizing
logic, the topic
as "the science
of truth."50
he
semester,
"Phenomenology,"
of being" and at the end of
in Sein und Zeit,
"is the science

characterizes

degger

After

semester

"absolute

Towards

1927 he describes

of

science"

the close

of those

even more

in his

and
final Marburg
lectures,
however,
his
first lectures
subsequent
stay) at
(of
is unmistakeably
altered
of philosophy

emphatically
the characterization
Freiburg,
he now urges,
is "more original"
in this respect.
Philosophy,
to characterize
and degrading
science
and it is both deceitful
ophy as a science.53

than

any

philos

eine
Nennen vollzogen
ist, kann direkt das Gesagte meinen, w?hrend
und
weiterhin
?ber
?ber
Dasein
Sein,
jede kategoriale
jede Aussage
Aussage
zu ihrem Verst?ndnis
der Umstellung
des Verstehens
be
notwendig
Aussage
nie Vorhandenes
auf das Indizierte selbst, das wesenhaft
darf, der Umstellung
ist"; Logik, 410 n. 1.
2-3, 184, 190; Logik, 10-11.
50PGZ,
51
466.
It is difficult to rec
48; GP, 15-17, 459-60,
SZ, 37; Wegmarken,
von Sein") with Oudemans's
oncile this last quotation
("Vergegenst?ndlichung
to
foundation
had no illusions about giving a scientific
claim that Heidegger
as
a
was
of
his
science
and
that
characterization
philosophy
philosophy
see Oudemans,
"Hei
chiefly a rhetorical means of warding off Schw?rmerei;
90.
deggers52 'logische Untersuchungen',"
der Logik im Aus
Martin Heidegger, Metaphysische
Anfangsgr?nde
lectures of the summer semester
ed. Klaus Held, Marburg
gang von Leibniz,
blo?en

GA 26 (1978), 11, 70.

1928,53

Ibid., 287; GM, 2-3, 22-4, 30; see also the previous note.
Heidegger's
are
character
of his early philosophy
views about the scientific
changing
Last
Review
Meta
traced in Daniel O. Dahlstrom,
Word,"
of
"Heidegger's
41, no. 3 (March 1988): 593-6.
physics

HEIDEGGER'S METHOD

789

of a scientific
of philosophy
is self
rejection
understanding
to
in
be
but
view
of
meth
the
sure,
critical,
hardly surprising
especially
considerations
his demand
that philosophical
odological
prompting
as
be
"formal
indications."
The
of
concepts
very purpose
regarded
This

that demand

is to avoid
or scientific

theoretical
and

of objectification
of things.
thematization

are

"objectification"

sort

the

synonymous

characteristic

in other

or,

of a

If, indeed,

"science"

words,

if science

can thematize its subject matter only by objectifying the latter, that is
its subject matter
only insofar as it can be consid
then given Heidegger's
of philos
understanding
a
to distance
for
thematization
itself
philosophical

to say, by regarding
ered present-at-hand,
ophy, it is necessary
from

science.
For

about

the theme

of the present

this development
character

indicative"

of the same

the end

is, Heidegger's

(that

of a "scientific philosophy")

of philosophical
in which
lectures

as
to regard philosophy
some
of
proclamation
worldview,
cepts
least

as

understood

to a relative

is particularly
from
departure

significant
the notion

is the fact that the appeal to the "formally

it. Toward
survives
concepts
he declares
that it is as embar
as

science

rassing

be

what

paper,

he

"formal

insists

it is to regard
it as the
con
that philosophical

indications"

degree"?the

in order

misunderstanding

that

to avoid?"at
all concepts

are objectifying.
What

is difficult
stresses

Heidegger

about
that

philosophical
they be regarded

be traced to philosophizing
in-the-world

that

at the

same

Being-in-the-world
in a fourfold

being.54

unthematically

itself.
time
brings
way,

the reason
concepts?and
as formal
indications?can

Philosophizing
aims
about

is a way of being

at determining
this way
of
what
it is (sich vollzieht)
as an emotional
state (Be

namely,
a
or projecting,
sort
an ab
of
specific
understanding
findlichkeit),55
or less public
into a more
and a way of talking.
In
sorption
domain,
each of these mutually
dis
ways
complementary
being-in-the-world
or implicitly,
that temporality
is its most
the
task
of
is to
Therefore,
philosophizing
"is always
there"
upon what
unthematically
already
(immer
a
da ist).
is
kind
of
Philosophizing
(Nach-voU
"re-iterating"

closes,
again
basic horizon
reflect
schon

ziehen),

unthematically
or meaning.

repeating in an explicit fashion the path (iter, Weg) that we

54
13.
55GM,
The difficulty of translating
this term is aptly described
in Hubert L.
on
A
Dreyfus, Being-in-the-World:
Commentary
Heidegger's
Being and Time
(Cambridge: MIT Press, 1992), 168-9.

DANIEL O. DAHLSTROM

790
are constantly following (iterare, vollziehen),
it means

what

from

as "care," "life,"
. . .
"a, concrete
an)
such

concepts
(zeigen
alone"

"to be"

(eine
to what

eigene

konkrete

a well

retrieving (Wiederholen)

of

Philosophical
forgottenness.
indicate
"as," "world," and "existence"
task to be carried
out by philosophy
in other words,
they
Vollzugsaufgabe);

is always
there but must
be ex
unthematically
already
can
occur
its "retrieval"
which
and "reiteration"
only through
pressed,
senses
the
described
above).
(in
on this retrieving,
as Hei
"the methodical
Reflection
reflection"
point

calls

degger

it, is itself mandatory.

not be a kind of afterthought

the

That

is to say,

(Nachgetragenes),

the method

may

but rather must be

"as an essential
part of the exe
In other words,
the definition
of
a "formal
and hence
indication."57

developed
interpretation
through
cution of the interpretation
itself."56
philosophy

is itself

philosophical

Ill
is an obvious

between
characteriza
similarity
Heidegger's
as
and
of philosophical
the nature
"formal
indications"
concepts
as
a
score
a
in
Much
and
of certain
artistic
script?in
compositions.
contrast
to a sketch?something
is expressed
and formulated
but in
that what
it is can only be realized
such a way
by being performed
There

tion

insofar as the philosophi

Indeed,
interpreted,
(rehearsed,
staged).58
a statement
is
is not so much
about what
cal text, on this account,
as it is a score or script to be performed,
in a certain
present-at-hand
means
sense
Is it possible,
of
the question,
concepts
by
philosophical
as formal
means
Rather

to thematize
what
"to be"
without
indications,
objectifying
cannot
be
to
in the case of Dasein*?
put
legitimately
Heidegger.
the question
has to be put to his readers.59

56
157; see also Martin Heidegger,
SZ, 308, 310-16,
391; PIA, 80, 133-4,
4th ed. (Frankfurt am Main: Vittorio
und das Problem der Metaphysik,
Klostermann,
1973), 232.
57
elaborates
"die for
PIA, 19-20, 32-4, 43; on these pages Heidegger
Definition
der Philosophie."
malanzeigende
58
of perform
"In the drama, as inmusic,
the work is a compliance-class
to a Theory of
of Art: An Approach
ances"; Nelson Goodman,
Languages
Hackett,
1976), 210.
Symbols
59 (Indianapolis:
This character of Heidegger's
thinking figures in Rorty's rejection of
recourse of maintaining
to avoid Heidegger's
Okrent's admonition
dangerous
about the truth of what "to be" means are not really assertions
that assertions
in such recourse;
at all. Rorty finds nothing reproachable
if pragmatism
does

Kant

791

HEIDEGGER'S METHOD
In later
close

of artistic

proximity
ical thinking.

example
The

himself
Heidegger
a
to
nonobjectifying,

language

composing
he observes,

Thinking,
of composing."60
at Drew
gathered

neighborhood
of theologians
Heidegger

on

reflections

proceeds
in a 1964

Similarly,

"Poetic
composition
suggests,
of an excellent,
nonobjectifying
fact that this last remark was

theologians

is not

philosophical

concepts
to the nature

insignificant.
as formal

similarity
to what he understands

of artistic

philosoph
its path "in the
letter to a group

down

University

the

pursues

in Madison,

New
can

[Dichtung]

serve

Jersey,
as an

and speaking."61
thinking
a
made
in
letter addressed

to

If Heidegger's
of
characterization
a
indications
possesses
significant
even
it
has
closer
ties
composition,

as the theological

formation

and development

The relation of Christian theology to its faith and

of Christian belief.

on Heidegger's
own understanding
to existence,
that of philosophizing
are profoundly
of theology
and philosophizing,
homologous.
The deep
between
belief
and exis
affinity begins with parallels
as "a manner
belief
understands
of existing"
that is
Heidegger
more
from and by what
is "timed")
becomes
literally,
developed
(or,
in it and with
what
is
believed:
the
revealed
crucified
God
it, namely,
. . .
. . aus dem, was
in und mit
dieser Existenzweise
(
gezeitigt.
....
aus
der
If
dem
offenbar wird,
Geglaubten
gekreuzigte
Gott).62
tence.

is replaced with
"existence,"
with
"believed"
"temporality,"
this account
of belief mirrors
closely

"revealed"

"belief"

then

the

tom of the analysis

of Dasein
the revelation
Moreover,

oughly historical
originally
happen

"participants"
corresponding

by historicity"

but

above

the structure

in Sein

und

in which

(geschichtlich),

happened,
(immer noch

with

"disclosed,"
clear
just

it becomes

that

and
how

lies at the bot

Zeit.

the Christian

believes

is thor

not only in the sense that it in fact

all

in the

sense

that

it continues

to

The revelation
thus makes
believers
geschieht).
in the happening
that
revelation
In a
is.63
(Geschehen)
it means
for Dasein
"to be" is "constituted
way what

(durch Geschichtlichkeit

konstituiert),

not so much

in

like to see it "take

have anything to say about such a truth, then he would
"
on Heidegger
the form of a proposal.
See Richard Rorty, Essays
and Others
Press, 1991), 38n.; and Mark Okrent, Hei
(Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 1988), 292.
degger's
(Ithaca: Cornell University
60 Pragmatism
an den, der in derselben
"Darum ist es gut, an den Nachbarn,
N?he
zu denken"; Martin Heidegger,
zur Sprache,
6th ed. (Pful
wohnt,
Unterwegs
nonetheless
insists
lingen: Neske,
1979), 173. See also pp. 195-6.
Heidegger
on the difference
between
and thinking (Denken).
composing
(Dichten)
61
78.
62Wegmarken,
52.
Wegmarken,
63
53.
Wegmarken,

792

DANIEL O. DAHLSTROM

the sense
has

the

that Dasein
structure

has

a history

the

ecstatic-temporal

of

ground" of which

formation

of revelation.65

losophizing completes and perfects

situation,

Belief

is not an

as something
over against
standing
is
rather part of the development
Theology
in the sense
that it participates
all the more

of belief

in order

happening,

of theology

in the happening

explicitly

as existing,
it
the "hidden

that,

is the finitude of temporality.64

"object"
(Gegenstand)
it (ihr gegen?berstehend).
and

as in the sense

to appropriate

Likewise,

the act

itself (sich vollzieht)

and develop

bring the specific theme of the philosophizing

that

of phi

in a historical

situation

so as "to

in its binding character

to life."66

that
itself
God"

In belief,
is placed
before God and,
the entire Dasein
. . . becomes
this
existence
struck
revelation
"the
by
in its forgottenness
a reversal
signifies
That

of God."67

phrase

"being

before

placed

of existence

der Ex

(ein Umgestelltwerden
as a mode
is a "rebirth
of historically
in
of the Dasein
that history
factually
believing,

is to say,

belief

istenz).
on
existing,
which
begins
in accordance

the part
the happening
with
with the meaning

has

been

already

The

indeed, such
to
revealed

posited."68

in that history
to which,
of revelation,
a definite
of revelation,
uttermost
end
What
here happens
in belief,
namely,

"being placed before God" and the rebirth (Umgestelltwerden

Wiedergeburt),
sal and retrieval

und

in Heidegger's
method
that rever
und
which,
(Umstellung
Wiederholung)
again parallel
a finite future into the forefront
of belief, move
of the

respectively

become

to the dynamics
of Dasein.69
analysis
With
similarities
In belief?as

belief
and existence,
the structural
between
parallels
are
and
between
apparent.
philosophy
already
theology
in the sense of the happening
existence
the historical
of

these

revelation?theology
"historical
uniquely

as its goal.
its origin as well
and legitimated
motivated
science,"
has

Hence
by belief,

it is a
aim

64
161.
65SZ, 376, 382, 386; PIA,
54-5.
51,
Wegmarken,
66
see also p. 62.
67PIA, 169;
53.
Wegmarken,
68
Sinn des Glaubens
"Der eigentliche
existenzielle
ist demnach: Glaube
=
nicht im Sinne einer momentanen
Und zwar Wiedergeburt
Wiedergeburt.
als Modus des
mit irgendeiner Qualit?t,
sondern Wiedergeburt
Ausstattung
des
faktischen
Daseins
in der
Existierens
gl?ubigen
geschichtlichen
der Offenbarung
die mit dem Geschehen
anhebt; in der Geschi
Geschichte,
?u?erstes
chte, der schon dem Sinne der Offenbarung
gem?? ein bestimmtes
53.
Ende gesetzt ist"; Wegmarken,
69SZ, 391-2.

793

HEIDEGGER'S METHOD

of the state of belief.70

its part in abetting
the development
ing at doing
In other words,
is
the
of the
conceptual
self-interpretation
theology
of belief which
historical
"first unveils
existence
itself in belief
and
In a directly

for belief."71

only

fashion

corresponding

ex

Heidegger

plains how philosophy has its origin and its goal in factual life. Phi
is thereby a kind of "historical
losophy
knowledge";
out "the temporality
it carries
of the authentic

which
from

(again much
its fall

into

both

Thus,
human
existence

tion,

it back

the world,

bringing
and theology

philosophy
and accordingly

Because

cations."

like theology) philosophy

employ

such

already
existence

or belief

and

of such

of

this

become

existence.72

as

"formal

indi

as he or she authen

like

"the

in any
is the

(in the case of

stance

toward

it is always
of the
authenticity
case;

upon

respectively

urges
between

Heidegger
connection

of

and a transforma

or believes

is dependent

up

"fallenness"

or "rebirth" (Wiedergeburt).

a transformation,
the entire
does

1929/30,
thentic
existence

the

insofar

sure, "being-in-the-world,"
zu Gott),
Verhalten
takes place
What
"there."
matters,
however,

trieval" (Wiederholung)
basis

to authentic

To be

theology).
God"
(das

through

ideally lifts Dasein

concepts
a reversal

tically exists (in the case of philosophy)

precisely,

historicity"

assume

concepts
signal
can understand
them only

a person

or, more

"re

Only on the

in the winter

semester

inauthentic

and

au

conceivable.

The concepts that break [this connection]

open are only then capable of
of properties
and
being understood when they are not taken as meanings
of something
but rather are taken as indi
present-at-hand,
furnishings
cations or signals
[Anzeigen] for this, that the process of understanding
must first disentangle
itself from the ordinary conceptions
of the partic
ular being and explicitly
transform
itself into the being-there
[Da-sein]
within
it.

Only

on the basis
not

attending,
what
it means
Just

as

anthropologists,

of such

simply
to say

a transformation

to what
that

is a philosopher
of
capable
are or how
are
but
they
used,

things
they are.
do not understand

theologians
so Heidegger

does

not

themselves

understand

as

himself

closet
as

an

70
55-7, 61.
71Wegmarken,
55.
Wegmarken,
72
390-1.
73SZ, 384-5,
dieser Begriffe meint und sagt
GM, 428. Also, "Der Bedeutungsgehalt
er bezieht,
er gibt nur eine Anzeige,
nicht direkt das, worauf
einen Hinweis
von
da?
der
Verstehende
diesem
darauf,
Begriffszusammenhang
aufgefordert
seiner selbst in das Dasein zu vollziehen"; GM, 430.
ist, eine Verwandlung

DANIEL O. DAHLSTROM

794
Yet

existentialist.74
quately
humans
the

texts

on

the

What

question.

last few

is the

pages
method
indicative"
or, more
precisely,
on a Christian
as a directive
is modeled

of human

understanding

attending
the theological

considered

"formally
function

degger's
mational

can no more
be
question
to precisely
what
it means

ontological

can

than

"to be"

from

the

without

addressed

ade
for

is evident

fact

that Hei

its transfor
theological

existence.

It is therefore hardly surprising when Heidegger

in 1921 chastises

him against
the likes of Kierkegaard
for measuring
and Nietz
no
"I am no philosopher,"
have
illusions
"and
insists,
Heidegger
at all comparable";
"I am a Christian
rather
of even doing
anything
a
are
of
to be
The
remarks
those
still
thinker,
maturing
theologian."75

L?with
sche.

but

sure,

they

philosophy

are made

at a time when
on

department

the method

in lectures
in a
Heidegger,
and subject matter
of philoso

phy, is hammering out his methodological

tactic of taking philosoph

as formal

indications.
ical concepts
The aim of this paper has been to elaborate
method,
Heidegger's
as he conceived
it in the 1920s, and to demonstrate
how the method
in fundamental
stands
insists

ways

by theology.
that philosophy

this claim might

that the ontic, Christian

simply as a reminder
a particular
is (for example,
God
of what
being
to be confused
with
the ontological
of
question

be taken

question
theological
or revelation)
is not
what
"to be" means.

On

the claim

mann)
analysis
thetical
size

from what
under
is appropriated
Heidegger
this appropriation,
To be sure, despite
Heidegger
On the one hand,
is in principle
"a-theistic."76

regard
of authentic

how

to Christian
Heidegger's

the other

some

Kuhl
(for example,
the
fact
that
obscuring
Heidegger's
existence
is not neutral,
but in fact anti
hand,

as a ruse,

human
theology.77
method

In the same
calls

vein, still others

empha
for a transformation
also on the

part of the theologian, but without providing the possibility of a return

to theology.78

74
n'est pas celle de
63; "La question
qui me pr?ocuppe
Wegmarken,
et en tant que
de l'homme; c'est celle de l'?tre dans son ensemble
l'existence
de
37e
de
la
soci?t?
Martin
Bulletin
philosophie,
tel";
fran?aise
Heidegger,
no.
in
his
"Brief
?ber
also
5
193.
See
Humanismus,"
Weg
ann?e,
(1937),
marken,75 329-30.
in a private letter to L?with, cited by Gad
The remarks are contained
142.
"Die religi?se Dimension,"
amer; see Hans-Georg
Gadamer,
76
in ihrer radikalen,
sich auf sich selbst stellenden
mu?
"Philosophie
a-theistisch
sein"; PIA, 197; see also pp. 196, 199.
prinzipiell
Fraglichkeit
77
51.
"Zum theologischen
Kuhlmann,
Problem,"
78
96.
Oudemans,
'logische Untersuchungen',"
"Heideggers

795

HEIDEGGER'S METHOD

of understanding
another
way
is, however,
Heidegger's
of "a-letheia"
that of
Just as the meaning
presupposes
so Heidegger's
in terms of
method
is only understandable
of the ontic science,
Chris
that is to say, his understanding

There
"a-theism."
hiddenness,
his theism,

in Sein und Zeit that at the bottom

claims
theology.
Heidegger
of Dasein
of the existence
there lies
of the ontological
interpretation
If
Christian
of
authentic
"a specific,
ontic
existence."79
conception
tian

theology,

as suggested

on

these

source
is a prominent
of Hei
pages,
to suppose
then there is ample reason

method,
philosophical
degger's
which
ontic conception
that that specific
a
not
in
strict
while
theological
orating,

it is an ontic sci
Though
theology.
as Heidegger
himself
emphasizes,
as in formally
assertions
signalling

apart from Christian

prehensible
Christian
ence,
consists,
theology
not so much
in making
theoretical
the revelation
entails.80
formulating
but rather
ein

and

derstanding

refrains
from elab
Heidegger
is
nevertheless
incom
sense,

and the transformation

of the believer

in
ontology
what
is present-at-hand,
the presencing-and-absencing
of Das

fundamental
So, too, Heidegger's
about
theoretical
propositions
in formally
the authentic

its understanding
not
consists,

signalling
transformation

of Dasein,

the

thinker,

its un

entails.

The Catholic University

79
The ontic grounding of the ontological
SZ, 310.
see SZ, 278; GP, 466.
quently80 cited by Heidegger;
Wegmarken,
56-8, 60-1.

of America

investigation

is fre