# "Dingliche Dingheit des Dingens" **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 11, 2008, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dingliche-dingheit-des-dingens/456163 "2008-07-11T18:03:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![capybara](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/capybara/32/202_2.png) [@capybara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capybara)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2008, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dingliche-dingheit-des-dingens/456163/1 "2008-07-11T18:03:51Z")
Familiar phrase, anyone? Who was this? Heidegger? Kant? Why am I not finding it via search engine? Is my grammar off somehow? ---
**Author:** ![Hellestal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3ab097/32.png) [@Hellestal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hellestal)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2008, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dingliche-dingheit-des-dingens/456163/2 "2008-07-11T18:14:53Z")
[QUOTE=capybara] Familiar phrase, anyone? Who was this? Heidegger? Kant? Why am I not finding it via search engine? Is my grammar off somehow? [/QUOTE] “Das Ding an sich” is Kant. This one looks like Heidegger. “Dingheit der Dinge”. ---
**Author:** ![Mindfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mindfield/32/19759_2.png) [@Mindfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mindfield)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2008, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dingliche-dingheit-des-dingens/456163/3 "2008-07-11T18:17:23Z")
I’m not familiar with the phrase, but my Google-Fu suggests that it’s spelled “dinges.” ---
**Author:** ![robardin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2008, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dingliche-dingheit-des-dingens/456163/4 "2008-07-11T20:33:30Z")
What’s that mean in English? 'Cause after reading that phrase in German, I’m getting that earwig of a Chuck Berry song _My Ding-A-Ling_ in my head now. (Which is a song about a bell, of course.) ---
**Author:** ![Mops](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mops/32/16494_2.png) [@Mops](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mops)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2008, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dingliche-dingheit-des-dingens/456163/5 "2008-07-11T21:10:10Z")
Grammatically correct it would be _Dingliche Dingheit des Dinges_ (thingly thingishness of the thing) or possibly in plural: _Dingliche Dingheit der Dinge_ (thingly thingishness of things) but there is no Google hit for either of these exact phrase so it seems we have been spared this as a philosophical term of art. Yet. _Dingens_ mentioned is not an official German word. It is occasionally encountered as as a genitive form of _Dings_, a German equivalent of _thingumajig_, but we can probably discount this as part of a serious usage - the _Sprachebene_ of _Dings_ militates against the _Sprachebene_ of _Dingliche Dinglichkeit_. For the sake of completeness, I venture to mention that _Dingens_ would be the genitive of the gerund of a theoretically possible verb \*_dingen_ (to thing _[sic]_) but this verb is not used. ---
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2008, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dingliche-dingheit-des-dingens/456163/6 "2008-07-11T21:13:56Z")
[QUOTE=robardin] What’s that mean in English? [/QUOTE] Translating the phrase to English isn’t easy, since the words used in the phrase were made up by the writer to express the philosophical notions he had in mind; you could roughly translate “dingliche Dingheit des Dinges” (yes, **Mindfield** , that’s “Dinges,” not “Dingens”) as “the thing-like thing-ness of the thing.” What this means is up to you, but it obviously refers to Kant’s “Ding an sich” (thing as such), which, as far as I understand it, means that existing things exist in their own right, no matter if they are perceived by others or not. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2008, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dingliche-dingheit-des-dingens/456163/7 "2008-07-11T21:18:13Z")
So _that’s_ where ‘dingus’ comes from! “Thingly thingishness of the thing”? Deep. That’s, like, a five-bowl insight right there. Tell me when you know what it is to be a rock, but not to roll. ---
**Author:** ![bufftabby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/77aa72/32.png) [@bufftabby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bufftabby)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2008, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dingliche-dingheit-des-dingens/456163/8 "2008-07-11T21:28:35Z")
[QUOTE=Derleth] So _that’s_ where ‘dingus’ comes from! “Thingly thingishness of the thing”? Deep. That’s, like, a five-bowl insight right there. Tell me when you know what it is to be a rock, but not to roll. [/QUOTE] The rock is _square_, dude. Think about it. I haven’t. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2008, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dingliche-dingheit-des-dingens/456163/9 "2008-07-11T22:14:03Z")
[QUOTE=bufftabby] The rock is _square_, dude. Think about it. I haven’t. [/QUOTE] It’s just a box of rain. I don’t know who put it there. Is it a thingy-do or a thingy-don’t? ---
**Author:** ![CandidGamera](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/candidgamera/32/2878_2.png) [@CandidGamera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CandidGamera)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2008, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dingliche-dingheit-des-dingens/456163/10 "2008-07-12T03:24:39Z")
I prefer Advanced Dingheit des Dingens. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![BMax](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bmax/32/4267_2.png) [@BMax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMax)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2008, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dingliche-dingheit-des-dingens/456163/11 "2008-07-12T03:50:45Z")
Not being very familiar with the the works of either Heidegger or Kant, how close is this concept to [Object Permanence](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Object_permanence)? or does it refer to concepts and conditions as well as (or instead of) objects? I might be able to understand, but I’m too lazy to read the books… ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2008, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dingliche-dingheit-des-dingens/456163/12 "2008-07-12T17:34:56Z")
[QUOTE=BMax] Not being very familiar with the the works of either Heidegger or Kant … [/QUOTE] To summarize their work: Immanuel Kant was a real pissant who was very rarely stable. Heidegger, Heidegger was a boozy beggar who could think you under the table.