and for Greek philosophy in general. If one gives himself the task of clarifying the meaning of such a term, one is obliged to keep in sight the concrete context to which it refers. The term οὐσία arises in several ways. The expression οὐσία arose, as a term, out of an expression that was prevalent in everyday language and meant a definite being, namely beings with the character of property, possession, estate, etc. We want to take this customary meaning of οὐσία as a clue insofar as we are asking whether, in any sense, aspects of the customary meaning are already contained in the terminological meaning. But only as a clue. By means of it, we will inquire into the terminological meaning according to its meaning-aspects, rather than deduce the terminological meaning from the customary.
What is characteristic of the customary meaning is that not only does it express a being, but a being in the how of its being. By household, I mean a being that is there in an explicit sense: that being which initially and for the most part is there in life, within which life for the most part factically operates, out of which life so to speak scrapes out its existence (Dasein). Thus, in the customary meaning of οὐσία lies a doubling: a being, but at the same time in the how of its being. The terminological meaning is distinguished by the fact that it focuses on precisely this how of being, that οὐσία does not primarily designate a being, but the how of being of this being with which a definite being is co-intended. When one uses the term οὐσία, still in its customary meaning, a definite concept of being is meant. Οὐσία as εἶναι, “being,” has its fully determinate meaning of being that arises out of the primary comprehension that the Greeks have of the beings that they initially encounter. And this primary sense of being is that which still resonates in the terminological meaning.
In any case, we have gained an orientation to the multifarious meanings of this expression insofar as it means (1) beings in the how of their being and (2) the how of being of beings. In each case, the emphasis is set in another direction. We are now interested only in the terminological meaning. The multifariousness of the terminological meaning must be determined more precisely. We are treating οὐσία with the aim of seeing what is genuinely addressed by λόγος, by ὁρισμός; what is originally and genuinely said by defining them.
Οὐσία in the terminological meaning is itself treated in view of the mutifariousness of its meanings. And in the terminological meaning οὐσία means (1) beings or various beings, such that the how of their being is not directly emphasized and (2) precisely the being of beings. Within both of these basic directions of meaning of the term οὐσία, we meet with a multiplicity of meanings that we will now study more closely. Should there be a type of research that takes being as its topic, then this type of research that has the being of beings as its topic, will be somehow obliged to also keep beings in sight. For, in the end, it is only from beings themselves that the character of their being can be gleaned. Thus beings must necessarily be taken into account. Within such research, every concept of being has a specific double-character to its meaning.