Heidegger’s Daoist Approach to Holderlin

Professor ZHANG Xianglong Peking University

In volume 75 of Heidegger’s Complete Works (Gesamtausgabe), there is an article written in 1943 in which Heidegger cites the whole chapter 11 of Lao Zi to illustrate his view of Hoelderlin’s uniqueness. The following paper is to present Heidegger’s rendering of the chapter and his interpretation of it to open a way to understand Hoelderlin. Not only is the article the earliest record of Heidegger’s dialogues with Daoism found in the published literature up to now, but also the dialogue, differing from all others, relates directly to his earlier thought or the central concerns of his Being and Time. Heidegger interprets Lao Zi’s “wu” (nothing) and “pu” (simplicity) as a genetic “betweenness”, and considers it as the key of comprehending the “being-coming time” and thence the uniqueness of the poet. It is both a deepened exegesis of his doctrine of “Being,” “time” in his earlier writing, and a methodological revealing of the guiding word “appropriation” (Ereignis) in his late works. It is argued therefore that the dialogue with Daoism is out of the inner needs of Heidegger’s thinking career.