Heideggerian Marxism

2. On Concrete Philosophy

Kim — University of Nebraska Press / Page 34 / / Heideggerian Marxism / Herbert Marcuse 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 [First Page] [34], (1) Lines: 0 to 41 ——— 13.48601pt PgVar ——— Normal Page PgEnds: TEX [34], (1) 2 On Concrete Philosophy Webeginourinvestigationwithaconsiderationofphilosophizingasthehuman activity in which philosophy constitutes itself.1 Philosophizing, if one takes the meaning of this word seriously, is a mode of human existence. Human existence is in all its modes subject to the question of its meaning [Sinn]. It is the distinguishing characteristic of human existence that it is not realized through its mere being, that it “confronts” its possibilities in a very specific way, that it must first seize these possibilities and, in this seizing, live in the shadow of the question concerning its “to what end” [Wozu]. (All conceptions of this “to what end” as the sphere of the purpose that transcends human existence, for the sake of which it would exist, will be avoided here and elsewhere. Even when bracketing any thought of purpose, one can still speak of a “to what end,” namely when the “to what end” of existence is grounded in its own being.) This “to what end” in its relationship to human existence is what we mean here by meaning. Nor can the meaning of philosophizing, with regard to the original understanding of philosophizing, be conceived as the realization of a purpose transcendent to it. All genuine philosophizing has found its meaning in itself and grasped it through itself. Authentic philosophical effort aims at knowledge as the becoming visible of truth. The meaning of philosophizing can be designated provisionally as the making visible of truth. Among the many determinations of truth we first consider that of validity [Geltung]. Truth is not validity, it does not “exhaust” itself in its validity, but validity belongs to the essence of truth. “Invalid” [Ungültige] truths, truths that are not valid [gelten], do not exist. But what is the meaning of validity? There “is” validity only in relation to human existence. The laws of nature are not valid for a nature that operates in accordance with them, but rather for the humans who understand nature. It is not valid for iron that the magnet Kim — University of Nebraska Press / Page 35 / / Heideggerian Marxism / Herbert Marcuse On Concrete Philosophy 35 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 [35], (2) Lines: 41 to 46 ——— 13.5pt PgVar ——— Normal Page * PgEnds: Eject [35], (2) attracts it, but rather for the person who observes the iron and the magnet. To say that certain conditions have validity means that I—to the extent that I am concerned with these conditions—must know of them, must be familiar with them, must act accordingly, must adjust myself to them. This “I” is absolutely essential; it points in every case to human existence.Validity does not mean that the valid conditions are only for human existence, but it does mean that they can be meaningfully spoken of as true only for human existence.The conditions expressed by the laws of nature are not true for nature—for nature they simply are—but only for man. A valid set of conditions can be independent of all human existence as far as its being is concerned, but validity, as truth, “is” only for man.2 If truth is thus related to human existence through validity, this relation receives its existential significance through a phenomenon that is often overlooked : appropriation [die Aneignung]. Truth demands by its very nature— however independent from all human existence the being of its conditions may be—an appropriation through human existence.Truths are not sought out and secured, not grasped through the labor of knowing then to be tucked away somewhere and preserved in abstracto; rather, in the knowledge of truth lies the demand for its appropriation.3 Knowledge is an appropriation only for the one who knows primordially, for the one who discovers and achieves mastery over what is known for and in his person, “as if it were the first time.” For every individual who fails to repeat this process of original discovery with his entire person, knowledge becomes...