"Re-thinking Difference"

(abstract)

According to Heidegger, the difference between being and beings is the most essential difference of all. Not surprisingly it is a constant in his thinking from beginning to end. Yet in the course of his work, he re-thinks this difference fundamentally, recognizing its at times ambivalent sense and even insisting on the need to abandon various versions of it, particularly as he foregoes his early project of fundamental ontology. His re-thinking of the difference plays a crucial role in his attempt to differentiate the leading question (Leitfrage) of metaphysics from the basic question (Grundfrage) of his thinking, especially in his work from the mid-1930s on. Consideration of Heidegger’s re-thinking of the difference between being and beings thus provides a valuable perspective on his development, throughall its twists and turns. The aim of this paper is to examine particular apsects of that re-thinking with a viewto demonstrating some of its significance.