The next keyword of Mindfulness to be addressed in this foreword is the word Auseinandersetzung that appears sometimes hyphenated as Auseinandersetzung. Assuming a broader and more fundamental role in Mindfulness than it did in Contributions, this word requires special attention in order to be brought into English and approximate a keyword of Mindfulness. A careful reading of part III of Mindfulness, and the sections in which Heidegger brings his being-historical inquiry to bear upon Parmenides, Heraclitus, Plato, Aristotle, Hegel and Nietzsche, soon convinced us that in Mindfulness the word Auseinandersetzung can no longer be taken exclusively to mean ‘debate’, ‘confrontation’ and ‘coming to terms with’. Taking our bearings from the components of this word, namely “Auseinander” – apart, dissociated – and “setzung” – setting, positioning – we decided to bring this word into English with the expression “dissociating exposition”.
This decision is based on a precise grasping of what transpires hermeneutically-phenomenologically when Heidegger places and positions side by side the metaphysical question of being and the being-historical question of being in order to dissociate the metaphysical and being-historical responses to these questions. It is his insight that the metaphysical response to the metaphysical question of being (i.e., determination of the beingness of beings – the general, κοινóν) relates in a subtle way to the being-historical response (i.e., the non-metaphysical determination of be-ing as enowning). In Mindfulness Heidegger takes great pain to highlight this relatedness by distinguishing his dissociating exposition of the metaphysical responses (such as those given in terms of ἰδέα, ἐντελέχεια, ego cogito, monas, reason, absolute idea and will to power) from rejection and refutation of the metaphysical doctrines within which these responses are housed. Central to a dissociating exposition of these responses is the fundamental difference between the being-historical insight into a given metaphysical position and that position itself. Based on such a difference, a dissociating exposition of any one of these responses is never the same as rejection or refutation of a metaphysical doctrine. Often functioning as the hidden motivating forces behind historical discussions in philosophy, rejection and refutation never accomplish what the dissociating exposition of a given metaphysical response or a metaphysical doctrine accomplishes, namely the overcoming of the metaphysical responses to the question of being by the being-historical response to this question. (GA66EN)