The cardinal mysteries of this tragedy will be explored along with their philosophical implications, including: a) the prophecy about Oedipus’ destiny and the concept of Fate both under the Heideggerian optics and, closer to the Sophoclean use of it, as a kind of regulatory idea in the Kantian sense, one which can be placed in a symmetrical relation to the concept of teleology; b) Oedipus’ visit to the Oracle at Delphi, his concentration on the prophecy, and the curious disregard for the lemma ‘know thyself’, inscribed in the temple of Apollo; c) the solution to the riddle of the Sphinx and a possible hermetic interpretation of it; and, d) Oedipus’ self-inflicted punishment, a key element in the interpretation of the tragedy. It will be noticed that there is in Heidegger’s thought a common subjection of humans and gods to the “essential swaying of being”.

¶ 8:08 AM