ABSTRACT
Having equated imagination with time, Heidegger abandons the former term and proceeds to a hierarchical distinction between authentic and inauthentic time. Authentic time is related to the revealing powers of language, and inauthentic time is related to metaphor and technology. An investigation into Heidegger’s own language, however, reveals that Heidegger’s philosophy relies heavily on metaphor. What’s more, a great number of the focal notions of his thought depend on metaphor as well; indeed, his understanding of aesthesis (perception/sensing) has a metaphorical basis while presenting striking similarities to Kantian schematism. A further investigation into schematism, through Bernard Stiegler’s critique, reveals schematism’s propensity to act figuratively, but to also be affected by exterior figures. This discussion opens up the possibility to reconceptualise nearness as metaphor and detect its instantiations by means of both language and technology. In this light, language and technology appear to be the exterior manifestations of metaphoricity.
