thought to the traits themselves, for presence did not become problematical, questionable to them as the presence of what is present. Why not? Because the only thing for which they asked, and perhaps had to ask, responded and replied, that is, answered to their questioning in these traits of presence which we mentioned.
Subsequent European thinking, by asking the question τί τὸ ὄν is set on the appointed road. The presence of what is present becomes for it even less problematical. In fact, it more and more loses track of the traits of presence, to favor other traits. The other traits in the Being of beings-the objectivity of the object which we mentioned, the reality of the real-are nonetheless still constituted in the fundamental character of presence; just as in all subjectivity the ὑποκείμενον still shines through, that which is present as what lies before us-and corresponding to it in terms of intellectual grasping and conceiving, is the modified letting- lie-before-us, λέγειν as the λόγος of logic. This rubric, after it was prepared in Kant's "transcendental logic," reaches the highest meaning possible in metaphysics through Hegel. "Logic" here means the ontology of absolute subjectivity. This "logic" is not a discipline, it is part of the matter itself; in the sense of Being, as Being is thought of in Hegel's metaphysics, it is the Being of beings as a whole.
Western logic finally becomes logistics, whose irresistible development has meanwhile brought forth the electronic brain, whereby man's nature and essence is adapted and fitted into the barely noticed Being of beings that appears in the nature of technology.
Do we attend now in a more questioning attitude than before to what the words ἐόν ἔμμεναι designate, the presence of what is present? Perhaps, and if so, then best by renouncing any notion that we could succeed at the first attempt, without long preparation. Public opinion today cherishes