We are talking about… Humanism. What is the occasion? Well, reading a philosophical text written 80 years ago. Yet the “matter of thinking” – which still remains of crucial importance to us – calls us into the “proximity of Being”. The question was: How can we restore meaning to the word HUMANISM? It was posed by none other than Martin HEIDEGGER, an iconic name associated with the “matter of thinking” (which we still also call… philosophy). Where does the humanity of the human being reside? The author of the key philosophical book of the 20th century, Being and Time (1927), would say that it is contained in the human being’s essence… and that this essence, in turn, rests in their ek-sistence. In ek-sisting, the TRUTH of Being is preserved…
But what does this discussion mean to us today? Can Heidegger’s “discourse” somehow be made understandable so that we might begin, at least to some extent, to grasp what is happening to us today(?) Perhaps it is not entirely appropriate to use the discourse of someone who, in the history of the 20th century, remained associated with the controversial Schwarze Hefte!? Deleuze and Guattari speak of this “shame” that had to enter philosophy. They say that Heidegger “lost his way along the paths of reterritorialization, for they are paths without signposts or protective barriers” (“Geophilosophy” in their book What Is Philosophy?, 1991).
But in a world dominated by meaninglessness, do we wish to restore MEANING to the word humanism? We are prepared to make a pact with the devil himself if that is what it takes. Even with Heidegger himself! But… let us abandon sensationalist discourse and return to the “matter of thinking”. What matters is that “… the truth of Being comes to language and that thinking reaches this language”. Then we would surely not fear that “philosophy lies on its deathbed” (Badiou). That is why it remains important for us, at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, to continue talking about… philosophy. At a time when homelessness reigns over the remnants of what we call the “world”, it is essential for us to dwell in “language as the house of Being”. Likewise, we must follow the instruction to be “shepherds of Being”. Nooo, this is not meekness or humility! Devotion to the “matter of thinking” is the last refuge in which we encounter a deeper MEANING. And YEEES… in an age threatened by universal catastrophe, the ancient question becomes ever more pressing: Why is there SOMETHING rather than NOTHING?? Let us try to think der andere Anfang, a “new beginning”…
Let us discuss all of this – as well as other phenomena of the present day – with Dean KOMEL, philosopher/professor at the Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana! It will all take place in room 39 at FFOS, on Tuesday, 19 May 2026, starting at 5:30 p.m.
mk
