Sprache und Nihilismus. Eine Kritik an der Homogenisierung der Sprache

Language and Nihilism. A Critique of the Homogenization of Language --- If language is understood not only as a simple way of communicating, but also and fundamentally as an experience, in which man opens himself to the world, to other men and their works, and to things (Heidegger), then the loss of linguistic diversity can mean nothing less than the death of the multiplicity of worlds, in which the spiritual diversity of cultures is expressed. It is therefore not unreasonable to think that this decline could consequently lead to an identity devoid of difference, and thus to the predominance of identity over diversity. This pre-eminence of identity would, in this sense, be the culmination (die Vollendung) of the emptiness inherent in the nihilistic phenomenon that characterizes the contemporary world—its tendency towards uniformity and identity without difference (die Gleichheit). This is the meeting point of language and nihilism, and the thesis of this paper. Sociological studies on glotophagy, hegemony, and linguistic imperialism help to concretize this Heideggerian reflection.