Heidegger's Philosophy of Art (Ferrara, Ch. 5)

Summary:
In this chapter, Ferrara explains the turn Heidegger took in his philosophy after Being and Time. In Being and Time, Heidegger introduced the idea of Dasein as man’s existence. In order to achieve authentic existence, Dasein must point beyond itself to death. He refers to this facing up to one’s temporality as resoluteness. In his earlier writings, resoluteness stood for an action decided by Dasein as it experiences throwness into the world. In his later writings however, resoluteness means waiting for Being to show itself. It takes a less active role in which only Being can discharge such an openness. The Being and Time idea of Dasein differed only in literary degree from the German idealist conception of transcendental existence, so in order to develop a new philosophy, he had to move from his earlier philosophical terminology and technical approach to a move meditative and poetic stance. By taking this stance, phenomena are allowed to lie before a person, question a person, and thereby reveal itself to the person. The phenomena are therefore given freedom. The ontological difference between Western metaphysical thinking and meditative thinking is that the latter is not grounded in subject-object dichotomy but rather operates under the premise that understanding begins when one becomes cognizant of the “horizon” or “region” of meaning in which things present themselves. Heidegger’s essay On the Origin of the Work of Art marks his turn to this meditative way of thinking and understanding.

Heidegger emphasizes the difference between waiting for something to reveal itself, which is subjective and applies to human wants, and waiting upon something, which releases the will and allows for responsiveness to the thing (what is referred to as apprehension and collection). It is important to note that waiting upon something is not passive, or indifferent and neglectful of things. In on the Origin of the Work of Art, Heidegger concludes that the artist is the origin of the work of art, and that the work of art is the origin of the artist because it is what defines him as an artist. Therefore, both the artist and the work require a third thing, which is art. Art is more than a category of real things. It is a higher reality, and it is present in art works and guides the artist. In Being and Time, Heidegger states that there are three types of beings: ready-to-hand (equipment), presnt-to-hand (mere things), and Dasein. In On the Origin of the Work of Art, he concludes that art cannot fit into any of these categories. Through studying a Van Gough painting of shoes, he comes the conclusion that equipment is in true being when in actual use, and furthermore, that art reveals the being of equipment. He calls this unconcealedness “aletheia,” which is a word used by the ancient Greeks to mean “truth.”

Ferrara goes on to explain Heidegger’s theory of the strife of earth and world. Earth refers to work materials and existing reality and world refers to Dasein. He maintains that earth is concealed to us and world is open to us. When earth, or work materials, are used to make equipment, the materials disappear into usefulness. When earth is used to create a work of art, however, the materials stand out and require attention, which is a property of the world opening up to be understood. Heidegger posits, therefore, that the earth grounds the world and the world opens the earth in a constant struggle, or strife. He maintains that a work of art instigates this strife, and that the fact that the struggle is never resolves is an essential characteristic of art. He goes further to state that this strife present in art is what reveals truth to a person.

An essential part of Heidegger’s theory is that nothing is static, everything is dynamic, including earth, world, and works of art. He states that truth “happens” in art. He goes on to state that truth happens in art as a function of the art bringing itself into the rift-design, or Gestalt, through the strife of earth and world. Therefore, according to Heidegger, there are three functional and fundamental elements in a work of art: earth (materials), rift-design (syntax), and world (reference). Heidegger also states that for art to happen in a work of art, it must be appreciated, and that truth only happens in a work of art if an inspired person allows it to happen. Finally, he states that art is poetry because it is a language, and language is the original projection into Being that is originally generated from Being itself, and emphasizes the importance of history, or the artist’s ontological world, by stating that history is not a simple product of the study of man but rather is an eruption of man’s significance through time. Therefore, art provides a glimpse of Being as the overall and fundamental process of human understanding. Ferrara closes the chapter by expanding a famous quote of Heidegger by stating that “Art is the creative preserving of the happening of the truth of historical Being in the art work.”

Reaction:
I found this chapter to be extremely interesting, insightful, and logical. I strongly appreciate Heidegger’s move toward meditative thinking because it puts a person into the world in order to move toward understanding, whereas traditional thinking removes a person from the world in order to attempt to understand it by observing it from afar. This gets back to the early class discussions we had about experiencing art beyond the visual realm. I think Heidegger’s philosophy proves that it is impossible to experience a work of art – or anything, really – using only one sense.

I am also intrigued by the emphasis on contradiction and struggle as and essential characteristic of truth. I have been studying Taoism for a while and this idea is also a fundamental principle of that school of thought. I think that in many cases, artistic and otherwise, people get too caught up in decisiveness. There always has to be a right answer, one absolute truth. A person on the fence is considered wishy-washy. I believe that Heidegger is correct in taking into account the fact that everything is in constant motion and therefore promoting and working with the idea of a dynamic truth.

The most exciting part of this chapter for me was Ferrara’s expansion of Heidegger’s definition of art: “Art is the creative preserving of the happening of the truth of historical Being in the art work.” The first reason why I love this quote is that it sounds grammatically ridiculous upon first reading/listening. I think that characteristic makes it a well-suited definition for art. I also love it because it captures the existential, fluid, and tangible properties of art simultaneously in its use of language.