Martin Heidegger, Being and Time | The Concept of Logos | Philosophy Core Concepts

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in Section seven of being and time

Martin Heidegger is introducing us to

the very notion of phenomenology and he

discusses the notion or the concept of

phenomenon the what we call phenomenon

in English on one side and then he talks

about the ology but he focuses on the

logos that that comes from we when we

say ology we're talking about some sort

of discipline but that's coming from a

logos you know which is typically as he

points out translated as a speech or

reason he also focuses in judgment some

sort of discourse very often and we want

to clarify the the meaning of logos so

he tells us at the beginning of this

this section that this concept of logos

has many meanings in two great thinkers

Plato and Aristotle indeed in such a way

these meanings diverged without a basic

meaning positively taking the lead he

wants to get at what that basic meaning

would be so he thinks that we have to go

you might say to some degree behind

Plato and Aristotle in terms of time and

culture but we also do need to draw a

leading clue from Aristotle's own

treatment of the matter without thereby

remaining committed to Aristotle's

account of it so he says that we have to

adequately grasp the basic meaning in

its primary content this is what

Heidegger and other places calls a

primordial conception so he says if we

say the basic meaning of logos is

something like speech talking right or a

discourse then the literal translation

becomes valid only when we do something

else what is that define what speech

means or language or discourse that's

not quite so easy

to do he says the latter history of the

word logos conceal constantly the real

meaning of speech which is manifest it's

enough logos becomes translated and that

always means interpreted as reasoned

judgment concept definition ground

relation and and we could actually go on

it has further meanings in in ancient

Greek sometimes it can even come to mean

something like lie or just story that

you're telling all right so Heidegger

says that's not very helpful we need to

back up a bit we need to try to recover

what the primordial original Greek

meaning of logos is and we really need

to get away from thinking that logo

somehow signifies judgment or set of

judgments so he says rather logos as

speech we're looking at this sort of

beginning meaning of it logos as speech

really means and uses a Greek word de

Lune meaning to manifest to show forth

to display to another to make clear is

another translation of that

so speaking shows us things it doesn't

just operate a code it's not simply

playing a language game it's connected

with the world that we live in maybe not

in a simple way where each word means

one thing but language allows us to show

things to each other and to ourselves he

goes on and he says and introduces

another Greek term here for us right he

says de Lune means making manifest what

is talked about in speech Aristotle here

he's going to follow Aristotle to a

certain degree explains this more

precisely with another Greek term Apple

finest thigh so Apple is in this case

translated as from itself right and the

finest I is to display to to allow

something to be seen to show or as we're

going to see a little bit later on to

reveal in the sense of unconcealed so

Apple fantasize the verb and we're going

to get Apple fonts this as another Greek

term that Heidegger is going to use here

as the sort of noun conforming to that

verb the activity of apple fauna sigh

the activity of displaying through

language is Apple Fonz's so here are

Heidegger says something quite important

that I think I've got it laid out

slightly here on the board but we're

going to have to talk our way through

this he says speech lets us see from

itself what is being talked about right

Apple fauna say is something being seen

namely whatever is being revealed for

the speaker when we talk we're not just

revealing something to the others we're

also in a certain sense revealing

something for ourselves that that may be

something well worth dwelling upon so

there's also this element of speaking to

other people right something is being

revealed for the speaker who serves as

Heidegger says as the medium or for

those who speak with each other there's

a difference between merely speaking to

another and speaking with another

sometimes we actually do both in the

same conversation or a discourse but

this is something again worth worth

thinking about how does speech reveal

things to us how does it make things

able to be seen able to be perceived

able to be understood

so he goes and he says in speech insofar

as it's genuine what is said should be

derived from what is being talked about

so in this way says spoken communication

makes manifest what it's talking about

and thus makes accessible to another and

he says this is the structure of logic

as both fonts Asst again we see the the

Greek term being used there and he tells

us not all talking actually manages to

bring this off all right he says not

every speech in quotes suits this mode

of making manifest requesting make

something manifest but in a different

way a UK could also mean praying too so

he goes on and he says that when fully

concrete speech has the character of

speaking or vocalization in words logos

is phone a phone a is an intelligible

sound so what we get phonetics from

right indeed and he uses another Greek

locution here phone a meta font osseous

which he translated vocalization in

which something always is cited but

that's actually an interesting term

because we could also say a speech or

sound an intelligible vocalization

beyond the imagination or the appearance

right at the fantasy s now he goes on

and he says because of this this this

function of logos as apophysis let's

something to be seen this is the reason

why logos can have the structure of what

we call synthesis and this is another

greek term sin means to gather basis is

a kind of setting or placing and

normally when we talk about synthesis we

talk about having you know things and

bringing them together into some sort of

new combination or hole so we might talk

about a dish as a wonderful synthesis of

you know

this kind of flavor profile in this kind

of flavor profile using this kind of

vegetables right and we said well we're

we're fusing them together and we might

think about speech is doing something

like that with the words and the things

and ourselves Heidegger says no let's

really putting the cart before the horse

synthesis occurs later on the width is

actually a more primordial one a more

originally one he says the sin of

synthesis here has a purely Apple Fanta

chol meaning that it means it's it's

revealing something to us to let

something be seen in what in its

togetherness with something to be let

something be seen as something we often

think about the world as a bunch of

isolated objects that we can break down

further and to other isolated objects

that are associated into systems that is

not our actual experience of the world

or of ourselves or of what it is to

speak with another person we grasp

things already in the mist of other

things with them connected with them

separable from them distinguishable from

them but they're with them it's not as

if we first have the things and then

only afterwards does togetherness occur

now he goes on here and he brings in

another idea that's going to be very

important throughout Heidegger's work

and it plays a very key role here in the

notion of what's going on in logos truth

for Heidegger is fundamentally or

primarily Alafaya

that's the the Greek word for truth

which means there's a privat of a you

know out of against not Laith a which

means concealment forgetfulness

so a lethea means bringing things or

things coming out of their concealment

we often translate this as on

concealment here he also talks in terms

of discovery uncovering something when

we discover something we don't make

something up that's completely new right

we come across it and we didn't realize

that it was already there so he says

because logos let something be seen it

can therefore be true or false what is

it the truth or falsity he says we have

to avoid any sort of correspondence

theory of truth you know the notion of

truth is being as he says correspondence

or accordance you been skimming this

whole notion of like an equation is

another way of talking about it you know

adequacy or a at the intellect 'm

intellectus the the ad equation or

equality even between mind and things

right or language and things Heidegger

says that that's a derivative conception

of truth

likewise he's going to insist here that

truth is also not to be understood

primarily in terms of judgement

judgement rutile comes later in the

actual story but we will often get mixed

up about this in part because truth is

Correspondence is a very seductive

notion that that that would somehow

encapsulate when all truth is really

about so he goes down and he says being

true of logos as a leaf a lane of

literally making true or unrevealing or

revealing or unconcealed means to take

beings that are being talked about in

legging and in speech as apple finest

thigh out of their concealment so what

are we what are we talking about there

he's mixed in some Greek terms speech as

Alethea means to talk in such a way

that we show forth we display to each

other or to ourselves what it is that

those beings are perhaps even what it is

that those beings are in themselves or

in light of other beings Zoe says this

is to discover them similarly being

false Sudha stai in in Greek in some

respect literally being lied about right

is tantamount he says to deceiving in

the sense of covering up there's a

couple different modalities of falseness

that he talks about and they all come

back to the same idea

covering up right concealing placing one

thing in the place of another putting he

says putting something in front of

something else that is letting the the

one thing be seen so that the other

thing won't be seen and thereby passing

it off as something that it is not let's

dwell on that for a moment with some

examples he doesn't provide some here

but I think this may be helpful when we

engage in euphemism we are in a certain

way lying and gating engaging in su

Desai and Greek about what the thing is

to somebody else or perhaps to ourselves

so calling the harpy's you know the

peaceful or you know blessed ones or

anything along those lines

the Furies rather is is concealing that

the reality of that when I tell myself

it doesn't really matter whether I

exercise or not so long as I have the

right you know idea about my body type

I'll lose weight no matter what I'm

lying to myself right if I tell myself

something about this chalkboard call it

something that it isn't I'm concealing

something and I concealed by placing one

thing in place of another

lying or falsehood is always going to be

you could say parasitical upon truth in

this primordial sense so he goes on

Annie says because truth has this

meaning because logos is a mode of

letting something be seen logos simply

may not be acclaimed as the primary

place of truth logos is not the only

place where truth is happening so he

says if one defines truth is what

genuinely pertains to judgment which is

very customary today or we might also

talk especially in terms of the

correspondence theory things are true

when there are there objectively the way

things really are

that's a correspondence theory of truth

that's derivative that's less primordial

for Heidegger than this this more

originally conception of truth is a

lethea so he says if we define this this

procedures without justification and the

Greek concept of truth is thoroughly

misunderstood so he says in the Greek

sense of what is true and here he brings

up two other terms and the rest of this

paragraph I thesis which we usually

translate as perception oftentimes sense

perception seeing things hearing things

smelling things all of that he says we

we actually grasp the beings as they

reveal themselves to us or we describe

them and thereby reveal themselves to to

us as well right

to the extent a nice thesis aims at its

idea what is its own the beings

genuinely accessible to it so looking at

at colors he says perception is always

true what is the in the purest and most

original sense true is pure he says

knowing and this is another greek term

we often translate this as intellection

right the operation of what goes beyond

the senses that and we often associate

this with what makes us part

a human as opposed to the other animals

here Heidegger's is calling that

straightforwardly observe observant

apprehension of the simplest

determinations of the being of beings as

such he says knowing cannot be false

either at worst it can be sort of not

working an on apprehending not suffice

in for appropriate access so how do

thinks that we actually do have this

sort of basic you might call it

interconnection with the world with

ourselves with others through these

things it can be mediated through

language in fact it often does have to

be mediated through language this is

what the logos at its core is

fundamentally about that doesn't mean

that we have some sort of naive realism

whereas everything is always exactly as

we think it is or as we say it is that's

not at all what he's talking about here

as a matter of fact that would be

predicated on something more like a

truth is correspondence theory now he

goes on and he says truth of judgment is

actually only the opposite of covering

up it's actually what he calls a

multiplied founded phenomenon of truth

so that realism and idealism both missed

the meaning of the Greek concept of

truth and he says because the function

of logos lies and letting something be

seen straightforwardly letting beings be

apprehended logos can therefore the last

thing is going to say logos can also

mean reason this capacity that we have

for grasping how things are and that

means in part their relationships with

other things so he's going to go on and

bring up a few more terms he says logos

can be understood both as leg gain that

is the speaking and as legoman tone that

which is spoken about all right he says

it's used in both of these senses so he

says what always already lies present at

the basis of all relevant speech and

discussion

because of this logos as let go Menon

means it's ground or rat CEO rat see

also means reason he says because it can

also mean what is addressed as something

that has become visible in its relation

to something else in its relatedness

logos also acquires the meaning of

relation and relationship so logos

encompasses a lot all of this is said

remember to not just to explicate what

logos as a term means or even just to

talk about the primordial conception of

truth but as part of a larger

conversation in this section about what

phenomenology the logos of fine omen a

finite phenomenon right would happen to

be so Heidegger is telling you all of

this in order to help clarify his

conception of phenomenology as a

discipline

you