Der Hirt des Seins und die ursprüngliche Ethik

The paper argues that the ›shepherd of being‹ is a key figure of what Martin Heidegger calls ›originary ethics‹, which relies on the human dwelling and implies the ›other thinking that abandons subjectivity‹, namely, that abandons the human being construed as a sovereign subject. By drawing on the recently issued so-called Black Notebooks, which turn out to be crucial in order to both understand the role of the ›shepherd of being‹ in technology, the paper presents first the sources of such a figure, and, second, the two assignments that Heidegger entrusts to the shepherd, which go back both to mortality and releasement toward things. Finally, by recalling the difference established by Heidegger between the ›lord of beings‹ and the ›shepherd of being‹, an alternative relation with technology is sketched out, which is based on use instead of possession, and on dwelling instead of exploitation.