Finding Oneself Lost in Enquiry

Drawing on Heidegger’s later writings on Hölderlin’s poetry, this paper explores the existential significance of being a researcher. Heidegger’s characterisation of our being-in-the-world is used as a basis for exploring Hölderlin’s poem, “Remembrance” in order to to throw light on the experience of undertaking research. The paper argues that the very phenomena of familiarity, disorientation, and illumination characterise this process of researching.