ABSTRACT
In the 1930s and 1940s, Heidegger theorizes the essence of technology as the autonomous scientific thinking to which Dasein has become addicted over two-plus millennia; and he becomes aware of his own dependency on autonomous scientific thought. Meanwhile, Heidegger recognizes a direct link between Dasein’s addiction to the essence of technology and Dasein’s ongoing spoliation of the planet.
Seeking a new habit of mind, in 1936 Heidegger begins lecturing extensively on Hölderlin. He is also engaged in the study of Laozi. In 1943, Heidegger writes “The Uniqueness of the Poet.” Dedicated to Hölderlin, this paradigmatic essay is centered on Laozi. As per historicality, Heidegger identifies Laozi and Hölderlin as “futural poets.” Moreover, he indicates that he considers himself as much a futural poet as he does Hölderlin or Laozi. Via these two thinkers, East and West, Heidegger is on the way to recovery, but he is not yet free.
Nonetheless, through Hölderlin’s dissolution of the subject/object binary, and a newfound understanding of the nothing through Laozi, Heidegger begins to lay a path toward meditative thinking, by which Dasein may, “in the time to come,” free itself from its obsessive-compulsive destruction of the biosphere.
