Heidegger - Aletheia

Midnight · Post by **Midnight** » October 5th, 2016, 6:29 am

Is there anyone here (or anywhere on the internet) that can give me a concise and simplified explanation of Heidegger's meaning of Aletheia? Or is it an idea too complex to be explained simply?

I've read three or four articles that attempt to explain Aletheia, but they seem more confusing than the concept itself. I also read that Heidegger later abandoned the "originary" notion of Aletheia that he was reaching for, but I'd like to understand what he was aiming for/getting at in the first place.

Thanks in advance.

Burning ghost · Post by **Burning ghost** » October 5th, 2016, 9:17 am

Nope. I have a copy of Being and Time, so I'll take a look.

Fooloso4 · Post by **Fooloso4** » October 8th, 2016, 4:40 pm

Heidegger wants to draw attention to the narrowness and inadequacy of the standard philosophical notion of truth. He goes back to the etymology of the Greek term aletheia, which means to unconceal, to disclose. It is not simply discursive or propositional. It is not limited to what has been demonstrated to be true. It is not a correspondence between a claim and what is the case. According to Heidegger, Being brings into unconcealment through man, whom he calls Dasein, that is, literally, the being who is there, to whom and through whom Being (what is) is disclosed.

Aletheia is not static, unchanging, eternal truth, but is rather in time. What becomes unconcealed and what becomes concealed by Being through man changes with each epoch. Thus aletheia cannot be thought of properly with lethe, that is, oblivion, forgetfulness, concealment. For each epoch there are things that are disclosed and things that are forgotten.

Burning ghost · Post by **Burning ghost** » October 10th, 2016, 11:02 am

I am not much help here. Cannot find reference in Being and Time, and not sure if he talks about it in that book?

Fooloso4 · Post by **Fooloso4** » October 10th, 2016, 12:20 pm

Burning ghost:

Cannot find reference in Being and Time, and not sure if he talks about it in that book?

See 33, German pagination. Being able to identify Greek terms is necessary, although your translation might translate them. If your translation does not have an index of Greek terms then you will have to search English terms such as truth, disclosedness, and unconcealment.

See also I.6 (a), [214 German pagination]: “The Traditional Conception of Truth, and its Ontological Foundations”.

Burning ghost · Post by **Burning ghost** » October 11th, 2016, 10:58 am

Thank you. It does have the Greek in index ... actually in Greek. Not easy to find a specific term if you don't know Greek.

I find Dasein hard to figure out so its difficult to understand the meaning of this term as it is woven into dasein. I'll give it a better look in the future. I find Heidegger to be almost purposefully incomprehensible in places.

Fooloso4 · Post by **Fooloso4** » October 11th, 2016, 11:11 am

αλήθεια

Renee · Post by **Renee** » November 1st, 2016, 12:41 pm

Dasein - Das - the, the definite article, in the neutral gender (not male, not female) - ein, or Ein, one.

Dasein -- theone.
===========
Da sein -- dort sein, being there, to be there, to be in that space. Sein - to be, being. Da - dort - there, over there, being at.

Fooloso4 · Post by **Fooloso4** » November 1st, 2016, 12:57 pm

Renee:

Dasein - Das - the, the definite article, in the neutral gender (not male, not female) - ein, or Ein, one.

Dasein -- theone.
===========
Da sein -- dort sein, being there, to be there, to be in that space. Sein - to be, being. Da - dort - there, over there, being at.

Heidegger’s use of the term is not explained by the standard definition. See #3 above.

Renee · Post by **Renee** » November 1st, 2016, 1:16 pm

I stand corrected, Fooloso4, but I do feel that "da sein" is the closest you can get in German to "a being that is there", ("in that time" missing). Maybe "dadennsein" would be a better moniker. (Being there and then.)