The Specter of History: Rethinking Thinking in the Post-Cold War Age

On the basis of the Greeks' initial contributions towards an Interpretation of Being, a dogma has been developed which not only declares the question about the meaning of Being to be superfluous, but sanctions its complete neglect. It is said that "Being " is the most universal and the emptiest of concepts. As such it resists every attempt at definition. Nor does this most universal and hence indefinable concept require any definition, for everyone uses it constantly and already understands what he means by it. In this way, that which the ancient philosophers found continually dis-turbing as something obscure and hidden has taken on a clarity and self-evidence such that if anyone contin-ues to ask about it he is charged with an error of method.