"The way in which the self is unveiled to itself in the factical Dasein can nevertheless be fittingly called reflection, except that we must not take this expression to mean what is commonly meant by it--the ego bent around backward and staring at itself--but an interconnection such as is manifested in the optical meaning of the term 'reflection.'"

— Heidegger, Martin (1889-1976)


Date
1927
Metaphor
"The way in which the self is unveiled to itself in the factical Dasein can nevertheless be fittingly called reflection, except that we must not take this expression to mean what is commonly meant by it--the ego bent around backward and staring at itself--but an interconnection such as is manifested in the optical meaning of the term 'reflection.'"
Metaphor in Context
Reflection in the sense of turning back is only a mode of self-apprehension, but not the mode of primary self-disclosure. The way in which the self is unveiled to itself in the factical Dasein can nevertheless be fittingly called reflection, except that we must not take this expression to mean what is commonly meant by it--the ego bent around backward and staring at itself--but an interconnection such as is manifested in the optical meaning of the term "reflection." To reflect means, in the optical context, to break at something, to radiate back from there, to show itself in a reflection from something.
(p. 159)
Categories
Provenance
Reading. Cited page 5: Frank, Manfred. "Subjectivity and Individuality: Survey of a Problem." Figuring the Self: Subject, Absolute, and Others in Classical German Philosophy. Trans. Günter Zöller. Ed. David E. Klemm and Günter Zöller. Albany: SUNY Press, 1997. (3-30)
Citation
Heidegger, Martin. The Basic Problems of Phenomenology. Trans. A. Hofstadter. Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1982.
Date of Entry
10/02/2003
Date of Review
10/23/2003

The Mind is a Metaphor is authored by Brad Pasanek, Assistant Professor of English, University of Virginia.