themselves. It is the science of human being. Notice that we already mentioned human being when we spoke about ἐπιστήμη φυσική, the science of the world. But [2] now the subject matter is human being—not as a thing that just shows up in the world, with nothing ontologically special about it that would set it off from plants and animals, something that is just “out there” like the flora and fauna. Rather, in the present case human beings are understood as beings that, so to speak, take their very own being in hand.2
According to the divisions established by Hellenistic scholasticism, these three ἐπιστήμαι make up philosophy, the science of the whole of beings as such in their wholeness. “Physics” and “ethics” we can understand; but how is a “science of speaking” supposed to fit in with those two? Physics and ethics are disciplines that deal with two distinctive, universal realms of beings: the world and human beings. But how does a science that deals with so specific a matter as speaking get lined up with them? Why exactly should “speaking” become the subject of a universal (i.e., a philosophical) reflection? We will understand why once we have a natural and unbiased understanding of what is meant by λόγoς or “speech,” just as we do of those other two realms of beings: the world and human beings.
We understand speaking not in the narrow and specialized sense of “giving a speech,” but simply as “speaking to each other” for the sake of interacting and working with each other. Talking to each other in this way means speaking about what’s going on, what could go on, and how to do things. It means discussing plans, projects, relationships, events, the ups and downs of life. To go back to what we said before: it means discussing how the world is and how human beings are. Speaking with each other is not something that goes on all the time, but speech itself—λόγoς—is always operative—whether we’re repeating what others have said, or telling stories, or even just silently speaking to ourselves or explaining things to ourselves or taking responsibility for ourselves. In this broad and natural sense, speech is a way that human beings behave, one that reveals to a natural, pre-scientific view what the difference is between human beings and other living things in the world. The specific being of humans is rendered conspicuous by speech. And [3] what is essential about speaking is that it is experienced as speaking to others about something.
Not only is speaking to others and to oneself the behavior that makes human beings stand out as human; speaking is also the way that humans
2. [Moser (p. 2.30–3.5) records that Heidegger said at this point that human beings “are experienced insofar as they act, indeed act upon others and upon themselves.” Here, in ἐπιστήμη ἦθική, “human beings are understood as beings that, so to speak, take their ownmost being in hand.”]