ABSTRACT
In this chapter, Heidegger’s method of philosophy is explored in relation to one of its classical characteristics: questioning. Since the beginning of the philosophical tradition, philosophy has been characterized as questioning. Contrary to the philosophical tradition, however, Heidegger’s method of questioning does not consist primarily in finding an answer to the aporia of philosophy, but in deeming worthy the question-worthiness of being. In this chapter, Heidegger’s reflections on the nature of questioning are revisited in order to rehabilitate questioning as an essential characteristic of philosophical method. After exploring Heidegger’s characterization of philosophical method as questioning and Derrida’s criticism of the primacy of questioning, Derrida’s criticism is evaluated and three characteristics of Heidegger’s conception of questioning are articulated. Furthermore, Heidegger’s later rejection of questioning will be critically evaluated. It will become clear that Heidegger’s method of philosophical questioning does not attest to humanistic tendencies, but rather concerns the exploration (Entfaltung) of questioning in which the truth of being originally resonates. With this, this chapter contributes to the discussion on why Heidegger rejected questioning in his later thought and whether this rejection is legitimized, and also to the rehabilitation of questioning as characteristic of contemporary philosophical method.
