SUMMARY
Drawing on the work of Heidegger, this dissertation develops a concept of linguistic experience. It brings together examinations of Heidegger’s style, close readings of some of his most programmatic passages, his writings on language, as well as his interpretations of Hegel, Hölderlin, and others, to support the overall argument that experience is both proto-linguistic and proto-historical. On an exegetical level, I argue that experience is an overlooked element of Heidegger’s ambitions concerning the work and future of thinking. On a more general level, I illuminate features of experience such as negativity, imprint, transition, and tentativeness, and re? ect on the role of these features in the use of language in metaphysics and in poetry. With the term ‘preparatory history,’ I summarize Heidegger’s conception of poetry and his ideal of a historical thinking that is more closely oriented to experience. Th is reading opens up avenues for further investigation regarding the work and aim of philosophy.