Abstract

Heidegger's question that “Since ‘Being’ has many meanings, which one is its basic meaning? What is Being?”comes from the ancient Greeks. This question led Heidegger from theory to philosophy and then from philosophy to thought. Heidegger engaged all his life in the question of Being. His works reflect his thinking path. Although the path of Heidegger's thinking as our research topic may sound a bit of a cliché, our analysis focuses on Heidegger's contending with（Auseinandersetzung mit）Metaphysics. There are two forces driving Heidegger's metaphysics. What Heidegger wants to construct is the notion that the meaning of Being is a basic question of metaphysics and the only one. He tries his best to renew this question, and seeks an answer that is different from Aristotle's. What Heidegger wants to destruct is the hardened tradition in metaphysics, which he believes must be loosened up, and the concealments which it has brought about must be dissolved. So for Heidegger, “destruction” is not “deconstruction”（Derrida），but is “clean” “reduction” and “retrieve”, and this destructive power not only clears the obstacles in the history of ontology, but also clears the place for the construction and sets its direction.

Destruction

Firstly, as for “clean”, Heidegger thought, when traditional metaphysics asked what Being is, they did not ask about Being as such, but about beings. There was no difference between beings and Being. So the Being had been forgotten. The question of Being was forgotten throughout the entire history of western metaphysics, from Plato to Nietzsche.

Secondly, as for “reduction”, Heidegger asserts that the basic character of the history of western metaphysics as a history of Being is “onto-theo-logy”.

Thirdly, as for “retrieve”, Heidegger claims to go back to the pre-Socratic thinkers, because the early Greeks experienced the primordial experiences of Being as phusis. Being is to be, not its nominalization.

Construction

Firstly and obviously, in order to trace the question of Being to its origin, Heidegger constructed a fundamental ontology. Fundamental ontology is not the foundation of ontology, but the preparations for ontology, which opens the way for ontology, and lays bare the horizon for an interpretation of the meaning of Being in general.

Secondly, for the question of what Being is, Heidegger told us that this is a Socratic question that cannot be answered, but “understanding of being is itself a definite characteristic of Dasein's Being.” So, only Dasein can ask this question, and this character designates Da-sein as the sheepherder of Being.

Thirdly, seeking the meaning of Being, Being as truth, Being as Ereignis, make up Heidegger's thinking path. In this process of continual interrogation, Heidegger draws the boundary of metaphysics consciously.

During the period of the dominance of science and technology and of the decline of philosophy, Heidegger upheld the dignity of thinking. We can say, therefore, that Heidegger is a thinker who defined metaphysics.

Key Words: Heidegger Metaphysics Being Thinking