Abstract

Before introducing the subject matter of this paper, I have to make it clear that I shall simply say “Reiner” when quoting the works of the thinker to whom this Memorial Issue is dedicated. This will be a way of expressing how close he remains to our affectionate remembrance. I think he would have approved of Heidegger’s opinion that “the greater a thinker is, the more purely his person disappears behind his work.” As Reiner was a genuine philosopher and a great thinker, we must therefore accept, even if reluctantly, not to speak of the man, but only of his work. In the present case, silence and speech are intimately bound together.