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WHAT IS CALLED THINKING?

But this conformation is in no way of man's making, or within his power. Rather, these disciplines are in fateful submission to a power which comes from far away, and for which the Greek words ποίησις (poesy) and τέχνη (technology) may still be the appropriate names, provided they signify for us, who are thinking, That which gives food for thought.


Summary and Transition


The Summary and Transition at the end of Lecture 1 concerned three things: the relatedness of thinking to science; the relation between teaching and learning; and thinking as a handicraft.

We refrain from repeating the three points, will try instead to clarify a few questions and reflections concerning that transition which have been brought up from various sides.

When we decide to look for the essential nature of contemporary science in the essence of modern technology, this approach posits science as something in the highest sense worthy of thought. The significance of science is ranked higher here than in the traditional views which see in science merely a phenomenon of human civilization.

For the essence of technology is not anything human. The essence of technology is above all not anything technological. The essence of technology lies in what from the beginning and before all else gives food for thought. It might then be advisable, at least for the time being, to talk and write less about technology, and give more thought to where its essence lies, so that we might first find a way to it. The essence of technology pervades our existence in a way which we have barely noticed so far. This is why in the preceding lecture, precisely at a juncture which almost demanded a reference to the technological world, we kept


Martin Heidegger (GA 8) What Is Called Thinking?