INTIMACY is a state of intense belongingness which arises from a meaningful connection or mutual dependence of at least two entities. It includes an affective dimension but cannot be reduced to emotional experience. Moreover, Heidegger employs “intimacy” — as well as the adjective “intimate” (innig) — often to emphasize the relatedness of opposed principles or forces. Innigkeit   maybe translated best into English as “intimacy,” in the sense of a particular closeness. But depending on the context, it also can be translated as “wholeheartedness” or “inwardness.”

Heidegger discovers intimacy as a philosophical topic while studying Hölderlin  ’s poetry. The word does not   appear in the early lecture courses or in Being and Time  . In Heidegger’s interpretation  , intimacy is crucial for understanding the philosophical importance of Hölderlin. Thus, Heidegger refers to intimacy as the “foundational word” or “basic metaphysical concept” of Hölderlin’s poetry (GA3   9:129, 249). Since poetic language does not follow the same rules as scientific prose, Heidegger refrains from giving a comprehensive definition   of the word: “its content cannot, of course, be captured in some scholarly definition” (GA39  :117). This, however, does not prevent him from interpreting Hölderlin’s use of the word and subsequently adopting the word in his own writing (including his attempt to write poetry). [CHL  ]