The Temple

April 20, 2017

Outside Reading: Heidegger’s “Origin of a Work of Art”

“The temple-work, standing there, opens up a world and at the same time sets this world back again on earth, which itself only thus emerges as native ground. But men and animals, plants and things, are never present and familiar as unchangeable objects, only to represent incidentally also a fitting environment for the temple, which one fine day is added to what is already there.”

Heidegger argues that art has an unconcealing aspect, guiding us in our understanding of the world. He uses the example of the temple to show this. For the Greeks, the temple was a work of art, a magnificent construction. It was a demonstration of the gods, a symbol of the lens through which they viewed the world. But this artwork also interacts with nature. The waves no longer were just waves but were a sign of the Poseidon god. The storm was no longer simply a storm but a manifestation of the gods’ anger. The bright sun is now divine. It gives context to everything around us. There seems to be this unique interplay between religion, art, and nature. Religion dictates the way in which we view the world and art seems to reflect that religion, in doing so, giving meaning to nature as well.