The seminal collection On the Way to Language by Martin Heidegger represents one of the most important explorations of language in 20th-century philosophy. This volume demands the reader’s full intellectual and existential engagement, as Heidegger unfolds his complex conception of language as the “house of Being,” a phrase as evocative as it is enigmatic. Engaging with this text is to think the philosophical topography of language, where language itself becomes not merely a tool for communication but the very ground in which Being reveals itself and humanity comes to dwell.
At the heart of the volume is the “Dialogue on Language,” a highly poetic exchange between Heidegger and a Japanese interlocutor. This dialogue transcends conventional academic discourse, delving into the cultural and metaphysical disparities and resonances between East and West. Here, Heidegger does not merely argue but seeks to attune the reader to the subtle dynamics of Saying (Sagen), a primordial act through which Being discloses itself. The exchange of Eastasian concepts such as Iki and Koto with Heidegger’s own vocabulary reveals his openness to the manifold ways in which different linguistic traditions shape and are shaped by their ontological horizons. The dialogue is not merely an exchange of ideas but an embodiment of Heidegger’s belief that true thinking occurs as a kind of dialogue—an ongoing listening and responding to the silent call of Being through language.
Following the dialogue are a series of essays that deepen Heidegger’s examination of language’s essence and its intimate relation to the unfolding of Being. For Heidegger, language is not reducible to a system of signs or symbols, nor is it merely a human invention for conveying meaning. Rather, it is the medium in which Being itself is articulated and illuminated. Through careful readings of poetry, linguistic phenomena, and philosophical tradition, Heidegger leads us to consider language not as an object to be analysed but as a dynamic process in which humans participate and by which they are fundamentally constituted. This approach underscores his departure from metaphysical thinking and his effort to articulate a more originary relationship between language and Being.
Central to Heidegger’s investigation is his distinction between everyday language as a vehicle of communication and language as Saying—the primordial activity of revealing and concealing that underpins human existence. He argues that in the poetic, language reaches its highest potential, serving as a site where truth happens. The poetic word, in its capacity to name and gather, brings forth a world and allows beings to appear in their essence. This perspective challenges the modern instrumental view of language, inviting the reader to consider how language not only describes but also shapes reality.
Heidegger’s reflections are intricately combined into a critique of Western metaphysics and its legacy of treating language as a tool for representation. This critique is inseparable from his broader project of overcoming metaphysics, which he sees as having constrained thought to the calculative and the conceptual. In contrast, Heidegger’s thinking aims to recover a more originary experience of Being, an experience that he believes has been largely forgotten or obscured in the history of philosophy. Language, in its essential nature, is both the site of this forgetting and the potential site of its overcoming.
The essays further explore the relationship between language and silence, dialogue and monologue, presence and absence. Heidegger shows that language is not exhausted in the act of speaking; it also dwells in the unspoken and the unspeakable. Silence, for Heidegger, is not merely a lack of words but a profound mode of Saying, a way in which Being addresses itself to human beings. This insight aligns with his broader phenomenological commitment to attending to what is given in its givenness, including that which eludes direct articulation.
On the Way to Language is also a reflection on translation—not only the translation of words between languages but the translation of Being into language. The interexchanges between German and Japanese, European and Eastasian ways of thinking, becomes a space for Heidegger to question the adequacy of language to express Being’s truth. He challenges the reader to consider whether the metaphysical framework of Western thought can fully grasp the realities conveyed in non-Western linguistic traditions, and vice versa. In doing so, Heidegger opens a dialogue not only between cultures but also between epochs of thought.
Through its blend of poetic insight, philosophical rigor, and cultural sensitivity, On the Way to Language exemplifies Heidegger’s later thought at its most enigmatic and transformative. The text refuses to provide easy answers or clear conclusions; instead, it gestures toward a path that the reader must walk in their own thinking and being. Heidegger does not instruct so much as he invites—invites us to listen, to reflect, and to enter into a more profound relationship with language, Being, and the world. In this sense, the book is less a treatise than a call, a beckoning toward a way of thought that is at once deeply personal and universally resonant.
For those willing to engage with its depth and density, On the Way to Language is an unparalleled philosophical experience. It is a work that not only thinks about language but also thinks with language, demonstrating in its very style and structure the truths it seeks to convey. It remains an essential text for anyone interested in the intersections of language, philosophy, and the human condition.
Simon Gros 
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