The Eternal (Re)Turn. Heidegger and the “Absolutes Getragensein” of Myth

Abstract

This article aims to initiate the retrieval of Martin Heidegger’s thinking on myth. Beginning with a reflection on the dilemmas and precedents of approaching myth, this paper turns to an extensive review of Heidegger’s major, explicit treatments of mythology, the philosophy of myth, and mythos, ranging from the “mythical Dasein” of Being and Time and his review of Ernst Cassirer’s Mythical Thought to the implicated hermeneutics of mythos in Heidegger’s later ancient Greek lectures. On the basis of such a panoramic excavation with interspersed commentary, it is argued that Heidegger not only increasingly intimated a particular significance for the (re)consideration of myth, but ultimately approached myth in no less than the light of the disclosure of Being. Thus, this article lays the preliminary groundwork to serve further inquiry into myth per/in Heidegger.

Keywords

• e. cassirer
• m. heidegger
• hermeneutics
• myth
• mythology