fourfold

is always at work together in a thing, with each of the four terms mirroring all the others simultaneously. This means that the four terms are structures belonging to all things, not four separate types of things.

First, it is obvious that the four terms of the fourfold (earth, sky, gods, and mortals) cannot be referring to distinct kinds of objects. Heidegger has already said that each of the four terms mirrors all the others simultaneously. This means that the four terms are structures belonging to all things, not four separate types of things. It would be charmingly naive for any philosopher to say: “there are four kinds of things in the world—gods, people, things way up in the sky, and things low down on the ground.”

is the transformed notion of world that applies within the later work.

The fourfold is the transformed notion of world that applies within the later work (see e.g., The Thing; for an analysis of the fourfold that concentrates on its role as a thinking of things, see Mitchell 2010).

fourfold, n.All

fourfold