TRACING THE DEVELOPMENT OF A THEORY OF LANGUAGE THROUGH HEIDEGGER’S WORKS
Abstract
The early 20th century philosopher Martin Heidegger spends the later part of his career dealing in large part with questions concerning language, and the relationship between language and individuals. Heidegger addressed what he understood to be the dominant interpretation of the relationship between language and individuals, namely, that language is a tool used by humans as a mode of conveying information. Undoubtedly, this type of understanding is still the most common. Heidegger is interested in how we became creatures who understand language in this way. I will argue that, while he examines this, Heidegger develops his own theory of language. My task is to extract this theory of language, and discuss the intricacies of language, the individuals’ relationship to language, and the ethical concerns in regards to this relationship. I hope to show that the question concerning human beings and language is one that spans the breadth of Heidegger’s work, even though it is not expressly articulated in his earlier writings.
Citation
Haug, Steven (2015). TRACING THE DEVELOPMENT OF A THEORY OF LANGUAGE THROUGH HEIDEGGER’S WORKS. Honors and Undergraduate Research. Available electronically from https : / /hdl .handle .net /1969 .1 /154522.