Paraphrase

Kasey has been writing some very interesting posts lately about the value of paraphrasing poetry. I'll try to comment on them in detail on the weekend, and pick up again on the related question of the difference between poetry and philosophy. As a prelude to that, here's a reprise of something I did back in November.

The last sentence of Heidegger’s essay “The Turning” as it appears in William Lovitt’s translation from The Question Concerning Technology and Other Essays (p. 49) reads

"May world in its worlding be the nearest of all nearing that nears, as it brings the truth of Being near to man’s essence, and so gives man to belong to the disclosing bringing-to-pass that is a bringing into its own."

When I first started this blog I offered what I thought of as a "reading" of this sentence, but which is really a kind of paraphrase, a series of paraphrases, a serial paraphrase. The trick is to try to replace bits of the sentence one at a time with less metaphysical and more ordinary formulations more or less in accordance with Heidegger's terminology in Being and Time.

Watch what happens. Is this what Heidegger "meant"?

May the world in its worlding be the nearest of all nearing that nears, as it brings the truth of Being near to man’s essence, and so gives man to belong to the disclosing bringing-to-pass that is a bringing into its own.

May things be the nearest of all nearing that nears, as they bring the truth of Being near to man’s essence, and so give man to belong to the disclosing bringing-to-pass that is a bringing into its own.

May things be in hand as they bring the truth of Being near to man’s essence, and so give man to belong to the disclosing bringing-to-pass that is a bringing into its own.

May things be in hand as they bring disclosure near to man’s essence, and so give man to belong to the disclosing bringing-to-pass that is a bringing into its own.

May things be in hand as they bring disclosure near to man’s accomplishments, and so give man to belong to the disclosing bringing-to-pass that is a bringing into its own.

May things be in hand as they bring disclosure near to man’s accomplishments, and so allow man to appropriate the disclosing bringing-to-pass that is a bringing into its own.

May things be in hand as they bring disclosure near to man’s accomplishments, and so allow man to appropriate the open accomplishment that is a bringing into its own.

May things be in hand as they bring disclosure near to man’s accomplishments, and so allow man to appropriate the open accomplishment that is an acquisition.

May there be equipment that brings disclosure near to man’s accomplishments and so allows man to appropriate the open accomplishment that is an acquisition.

May there be equipment that works and so allows man to appropriate the open accomplishment that is an acquisition.

May there be equipment that works and so allows man to acquire that which is in each case his.

May real things be given and so allow man to acquire that which is in each case his.

May real things be given so man may acquire that which is in each case his.

May real things be given so man may take what is his own.

May man take of the real things that are given what are his own.

May man do things that are his own.

Do your own thing, man.


This is a slightly retouched version of my original attempt. You can see it here along with some attempts to explain each step. I may return to this soon an clean those notes up as well.