ABSTRACT
In the essay “Origin of the Work of Art,” Heidegger traces the subject-predicate structure of language and the substance-accident structure of things to show how both are derived from the analysis of the “mere thing” into some matter that stands together with some form: a form always determined by the use to which the thing will be put. This allows both the appearance of the thing and that of language to remain constant. Regardless of what we try to say, discourse concerns itself with some subject related to some predicate in a manner indicating either that it is useful or that it is stripped bare of usefulness.
