The Truth in Heidegger: An Analysis of Martin Heidegger’s Philosophy of Art as It Appears in the Ursprung des Kunstwerkes from the Perspective of Sein und Zeit

Abstract

This article will approach Martin Heidegger’s philosophy of art as it appears in The Origin of the Work of Art (Ursprung des Kunstwerkes), seen from the perspective of Being and Time (Sein und Zeit). This will concern the question of consistency and whether Heidegger’s philosophy of art can be integrated with, and contribute to, his more general investigation of Being. The article will also problematize whether art could be a realization of truth and whether the aesthetic experience may provide a unique path to comprehension. It will then discuss these investigations in light of Jacques Derrida’s interpretation of Heidegger in The Truth in Painting, in which he questions the legitimacy of Heidegger’s fundamental assumptions. Derrida would criticize Heidegger because of the notion of “aesthetic truth” itself, as it is connected to, and anchored in, Heidegger’s more general thinking. This will represent an alternative perspective to the question of consistency: does Heidegger’s philosophy of art need to be commensurable with his more general thinking?