Gilles Deleuze, a famous French modern thinker, argues in his Difference and Repetition(Preface to the Original Edition, translated by Paul Patton, Columbia University Press, New York, 1994, p.5), ‘The subject dealt with here is manifestly in the air. The signs may be noted’ (http://andrewburgess.wordpress.com/category/study-notes/philosophy/giles-deleuze/). This argument is followed by pointing out of some examples such as, ‘the structuralist project, based upon a distribution of differential characters within a space of coexistence; the contemporary novelist’s art which revolves around difference and repetition, not only in its most abstract reflections but also in its effective techniques; the discovery in a variety of fields of a power peculiar to repetition, a power which also inhabits the unconscious, language and art.to’ (ibid). In addition, the list of such example starts with the following one: ‘(Martin) Heidegger’s more and more pronounced orientation towards a philosophy of ontological Difference’ (ibid).
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| Gilles Deleuze |
Though all these examples seem to be difficult to understand, it would be most plausible to make an attempt for finding any relating information about the definition of Heidegger’s so-called ontological difference to decode what these examples could mean. It is said that this concept can be explained as following:
‘Heidegger’s so-called “ontological difference,”…distinguishes between an entity (das Seiende) and the being (das Sein) of an entity. He calls this distinction the “ontological difference.” An entity, [a being] for Heidegger is on the one hand, anything that is or can be, whether it be physical, spiritual, or whatever – for example, God, human beings, socialism, and the number nine are all entities. On the other [ontological] hand, he posits the “Being” of an entity, which has to do with the so-called”is-ness” or “existence” of whatever is. For him, “Being” designates what an entity is or entities are, how it/they is/are, and the fact that it/they is/are at all.’ (http://evans-experientialism.freewebspace.com/madman.htm)
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| Martin Heidegger |
