Heidegger and Silence

This short essay offers a critical overview of David Nowell Smith's book Sounding/Silence, focusing on, what the author calls, the "ontologization of poetry'' as a way to grasp Heidegger's critique of traditional aesthetics and the novel claim that the human body is already implicated in Heidegger's account of language and poetry. To this end, there is a brief discussion of Heidegger's controversial views on the human/animal relation, the connection between poetry and thinking, and the value of Heidegger's poetics for future scholarship in the area.