Abstract

One of the more obvious themes in Martin Heidegger's philosophy is his strongly metaphysical and ontological treatment of language. He, more than anybody else, weds the metaphysical to the linguistic. Thus, language is shown to be the voice of Being calling out such that Dasein will heed it and allow Being to come to light through language. This dissertation, however, exhibits Stille, the voice of Seyn, as the a-causal primordial condition for logos, the voice of Sein. ;Traditional comparative philosophical studies concerning Heidegger have mentioned superficial links with Taoism, but have not conclusively demonstrated how the two metaphysical systems have parity, if in fact they do, and if the Taoist 'side' shares this link between language and metaphysics. ;This dissertation touches on both. I claim the yin-yang Tao dynamic finds parity in Heidegger, and furthermore that the traditional view concerning the Taoist view of language is wrong. Specifically, in the Chuang Tzu I claim the bridge between language and metaphysics is achieved with chih yen and wang ming. ;There are, though, obvious differences, and these will be illuminated, for knowledge of limitations is also knowledge of foundations. It is hoped that this groundwork exploration of the primordiality for Heidegger and Taoism and the link with language allows for further discussion. The most important difference lies in the fact that while Being is essentially language, or logos, Tao has no such identity. The similarity lies in the transparency of language. ;In addition to exploring the strengths of the contact points between Heidegger and Taoism, this dissertation examines both philosophies in novel ways. I claim that for Heidegger, his use of Seyn is not synonymous with Sein as is traditionally held. I establish the unity of the yin-yang dynamic--it is not, as traditionally held, separable into two elements. I show the traditional belief in the supposed antipathy Taoism has towards language to be incorrect