Heidegger, "The Origin of the Work of Art"

1. What does Heidegger mean when he says that we move in a circle when we try to infer from the work of art what its essence is?

2. What is the "equipmental character of equipment"? Explain in your own words.

3. How is the work of art "the reproduction of the thing's general essence"?

4. Is the work of art "equipment"? Explain.

5. What is the relation between work and truth?

6. What is the first essential feature of a work of art?

7. What is the second essential feature of a work of art?

8. What does Heidegger mean when he says the work of art "sets up a world" and keeps it in force?

9. Think through carefully the section from the middle of page 43 ("In what, then, does the work-being…") to the top of 48 ("…unitary repose of self-support.") Try to summarize in your own words Heidegger's notions of "setting up a world" and "the setting forth of the earth".

10. How are these two essential features related in the work of art?

11. What is Heidegger's conception of truth? How is beauty related to truth?

12. How does Heidegger explain the creation of a work of art? How is creation related to truth?

13. "Art is the becoming and happening of truth." Explain.

T. R. Quigley