Lecture XX (Nr. 0247)
Facs
Transcript
[243] This question is a HUMAN question---which we should never forget. It is a question in which man asks about himself, his nature, and his relation to his world---because man is never him alone; man is always man-in-his-world. Therefore the question he asks is always the question of his being-in-his- world. To ask such a question, a presupposition must be fulfilled which is the presupposition of ALL questions, namely to have and not to have, at the same time. Even the a when he asks the question of the logical structure of sciences, must have this logical structure--- otherwise he couldn’t even ask for it; and must NOT have it---otherwise he wouldn't have to ask for it. And this is the situation in which we always are, if we ask questions: having---which enables us to ask at all, because if we didn't have that for which we ask, we couldn't ask; and NOT having, because if we had it completely, we wouldn’t ask either. Now this is important, for religion for instance, where we must say: the question of God presupposes that we HAVE God, or God has US; otherwise we couldn't ask for Him. And on the other hand, the question presupposes that we DON'T have Him, that we are separated from Him, otherwise we would be in complete unity with Him and wouldn't ask the question. And so it is about man. It means man has himself, and has himself not. He has his world and he is separated from his world. Now this alone is a =atter [sic.] of astonishment, if we look at it. And if this astonishment