Abstract

This paper aims to underscore a certain continuity in Heidegger’s hermeneutical thinking, while examining the transformations that it undergoes from 1923 to 1959. My analysis of Heidegger’s thought follows the way the author uses the semantic range of the German word “Kunde”. I claim that this transformation can be understood from three different angles: the young Heidegger (1920’s), Heidegger’s “turning” (1930’s) and late Heidegger (1950’s). By analyzing those three steps in Heidegger’s thought, I show that Heidegger’s hermeneutics is a deep reflection on language that aims to shatter its logical, technical, and metaphysical understanding (in other words, as a simple mean of communication). The interpretation of the semantic range of the word Kunde helps us to understand Heidegger’s hermeneutics as an effort to think language as the “house of Being”, in which we find ourselves at home on earth.