2. Philosophy - Stefano Franchi

S PIELEN, THE ABYSS, AND THE CHILD
concept of play? How is it possible that the search for a new concept for non-philosophy—
to use the Heideggerian expression—tries to find an essential leverage on the same concept
reached by philosophy’s end? What is covered, if anything, by that concept? Or, to say it
better, what is given to thought in play? In order to find a clue toward the answers to those
question, we take a look at the ways in which play comes to the fore in Heidegger and Ni-
etzsche. Some of the characteristics of play will also be determined by such an analysis,
making it possible to ascertain the concreteness of the paradox of play.
Toward the end of the lecture course on The Principle of Reason, Heidegger distin-
guishes the notion of being as ground, as ultimate foundation (Grund), which he sees as
characteristic of Western metaphysics and the notion of being as Abgrund, as abyss, that he
wants to oppose to such a tradition. 16 And he asks:
does the nature of the play let itself be suitably determined in terms of being
qua ground/reason, or must we think being and ground/reason, being
qua abyss in terms of the nature of play?” 17
Before setting to answer such a question, it is important to grasp its paradoxical status. In
fact, what Heidegger suggests, albeit in form of a question, seems a pure contradiction. The
second part of his interrogation asks whether it is possible to think being and ground in
terms of the nature of play. The alternative presented in the first part of the question,
though, asks whether the essence of play is thinkable in terms of being as ground. This
would be an effort striving to isolate the “nature” of play, its essence. But the nature of play
is precisely what is required in order to opt for the second part of the question, what Heideg-
ger thinks is needed in order not to think being as ground. And yet, the question was pre-
sented as an antinomy: either the first half is chosen, or the second, but not the two together.
Instead it seems as if, in order to go beyond being as ground, in order to go beyond the
16. In order to appreciate the subtext of this Heideggerian statement is important to remember that the
Abyss (Abgrund) is the Schellingian term that Hegel picks up as a nickname for Schelling’s characterization
of the absolute. The characterization that he derides in the Phenomenology as “the night in
which all cows are black”. The positive use of the term by Heidegger is an explicitly anti-Hegelian
gesture.
17. Martin Heidegger, The Principle of Reason (Bloomington: Indiana UP, 1984) 112.
109