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PART I

the still unthought nature of the way in which anything that is under the dominion of technology has any being at all. And that such matters have remained unthought is indeed first of all due to the fact that the will to action, which here means the will to make and be effective, has overrun and crushed thought.

Some of us may recall the statement of the first lecture that so far man has acted too much, and thought too little. However, the reason why thought has failed to appear is not only, and not primarily, that man has cultivated thought too little, but because what is to be thought about, what properly gives food for thought, has long been withdrawing. Because this withdrawal prevails, that for which the craft of technological manipulation reaches out remains hidden. This withdrawal is what properly gives food for thought, what is most thought-provoking. Perhaps we notice now more readily that this most thought-provoking thing, in which the essence of modem technology also keeps itself hidden, appeals to us constantly and everywhere; indeed, what is most thought-provoking is even closer to us than the most palpable closeness of our everyday handiwork -and yet it withdraws. Hence our need and necessity first of all to hear the appeal of what is most thought-provoking. But if we are to perceive what gives us food for thought, we must for our part get underway to learn thinking.

Whether, by way of this learning though never by means of it, we shall attain relatedness to what is most thoughtprovoking, is something altogether out of the hands of those who practice the craft of thinking.

What we can do in our present case, or anyway can learn, is to listen closely. To learn listening, too, is the common concern of student and teacher. No one is to be blamed, then, if he is not yet capable of listening. But by the same token you must concede that the teacher's attempt may go


Martin Heidegger (GA 8) What Is Called Thinking?