Date

2016

Author

Sezgi, Damla

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The main concern of the present thesis is ‘language’ in Heidegger. Beginning with a discussion of the place of the Heideggerian thought within the context of the history of philosophy, which at that time witnessed a shift which is called ‘linguistic turn’, the question ‘What is language?’ is scrutinized to show the dilemma which arises from the fact that this question itself is in language. After, from the Heideggerian perspective, the interrogation of the whatness of language is shown to be inadequate, requiring a reformulation of the question as ‘What is the essence of language?’ Under the light of this question, through an elaborate reading of Being and Time from Heidegger’s early period and On the Way to Language from his late period, it is demonstrated that the early Heidegger takes the issue of language on the basis of Dasein’s existential structure, whereas the later Heidegger elevates ‘language’ and takes language qua language, thereby putting ‘language’ itself at the position of the speaker and concludes that ‘language speaks’. The turning in the thought of Heidegger is further investigated and it is shown that this turning is not a change in his thought but a shift of emphasis. At the same time, it is also shown that Heidegger’s own performative language cannot be separated from his conception of ‘language’, which yields the conclusion that the shift of focus in Heidegger’s thought is a making of another way to language, and by this very reason, is a ‘turn’ in his thought. 

Subject Keywords

Language and languages, Language and languages.

URI

http://etd.lib.metu.edu.tr/upload/12620414/index.pdf
https://hdl.handle.net/11511/26021

Collections

Graduate School of Social Sciences, Thesis