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to see and not being able to see in the night, employs his power of kindling fire, he touches on the power of light. Kindling fire is also a touching on. Touching on the power of light is a kindling. In contrast, touching on the night has another character. Human fire kindling is a projection of a light brightness in which many, that is, the multiplicity of πολλά are lit up. I intentionally speak of πολλά now and not of πάντα. The finite, small light-shine of human fire is also a ἕν in the sense of a brightness in which many things show up. Here the relatedness of ἕν and πάντα repeats itself in reduced manner as the relationship of ἕν (in the sense of the brightness of the fire kindled by a human) and πολλά (that is, the things that show up in each bounded brightness).

HEIDEGGER: When you speak about kindling fire, do you mean fire only in the sense of brightness and not also in regard to warmth?

FINK: Helios brings forth the seasons, which bring everything (πάντα). The structure of b, as the brightness of the sun, and πάντα, as the many in entirety which come forth to appearance in the sun's brightness, has a moment of repetition in reduced manner in the relationship of hr as the brightness of the fire kindled by a human and πολλά which show up in this finite brightness. Human fire cannot illuminate everything (πάντα), but only many things (πολλά). On the contrary, the brightness of the sun-fire surrounds everything (πάντα).

HEIDEGGER: Does the distinction between the brightness of fire projected by humans and the brightness of Helios consist in the fact that one is restricted, while the latter is referred to all?

FINK: Yes. {226}

HEIDEGGER: Is there brightness of fire without the light of Helios?

FINK: No. Rather, the brightness of fire projected by humans is derivative from the sun's brightness.

HEIDEGGER: We must also emphasize that the candlelight does not show anything for itself, and that a human is not a seer for himself alone. The candlelight only shows something. and a human sees what is self-showing in the light-shine of the candle only in so far as he stands always and already in what is cleared. Openness for the light in general is the condition for his seeing something in the candlelight.

FINK: The candlelight is an insular light in the night, such that we em distinguish between brightness and darkness. The brightness of the candlelight disperses itself in the dark, while the brightness of Helios is no longer experienced as brightness in the night. The brightness of the sun in general makes possible and supports human seeing and the visual ability to relate to what shows itself. In the brightness that a human brings forth, in the light-shine kindled by him, there emerges a relationship of grasping human to grasped state of affairs in his surroundings that has the character of distantiality. Seeing is a distantial being with things. As a distance sense, seeing needs an optimal nearness to what is


Martin Heidegger (GA 15) Heraclitus Seminars