and the end of all reflection in the question of the truth—not of this or that being or even of all beings, but of Being {Seyns} itself. The grandeur of man is measured according to what he seeks and according to the urgency by which he remains a seeker.
Such questioning of the truth of Being {Seyns} is sovereign knowledge, philosophy. Here questioning already counts as knowing, because no matter how essential and decisive an answer might be, the answer cannot be other than the penultimate step in the long series of steps of a questioning founded in itself. In the domain of genuine seeking, to find does not mean to cease seeking but is the highest intensity of seeking.
This preliminary interpretation of the essence of philosophy will, to be sure, have meaning for us only when we experience such knowledge in the labor of questioning—therefore “Basic questions of philosophy.” But which question will we raise?