Date: Tue, 19 May 1998 20:49:54 +0100
From: jmd <jmd-AT-dasein.demon.co.uk>
Subject: Causation


If somebody has any clear views with references on the following
questions, I'd love to hear them:

In his dealings with or references to causation, H typically invokes an
interpretation of the four Aristotelian types (this is beautifully illustrated
in his piece of technicity), the so-called material, formal, end, and
effcient cause.

(1) Would it be correct to claim that according to H's interpretation, an
entity (especially a human artifact), could very well be described as a
"gathering of" displacements of Dasein, or a "node" at which such
various displacements meet (with relevant qualifiers, I take it)?

(2) If the answer to (1) is "yes," then couldn't it be reasonably argued
that such "structures" as das Worum-willen, das Wozu, and das Wofur,
etc., are essentially "causational/causative structures," in the special
sense which H confers upon causation (the expression "causal
structures" sounds better, but seems highly susceptible to
misunderstanding)?

(3) If (1) and (2) are a go, wouldn't we have here one continuous
thread weaving both the earlier and later H together?

(Paranthetically, H's account of causation could provide a very
significant key to interpreting the way in which Japanese have
traditionally dealt with entities made by hand: as such "a gathering," the
person who crafted the artifact is, to some extent, still literally 'gathered
up with' the artifact. This manner of dealing is the foundation for their
practice of bequething "katami," what would be described in English as
the practice of bequething an  "heirloom," "keepsake," or "namesake."
However, in the Japanese case, the deceased, in some visceral sense,
to some imponderable degree, genuinely survives in the katami. In this
sense, we could speak of artifacts being invested with a genuine human
spiritual value: they speak to us; they beseech us, that we should handle
them with care. Pehaps, this same understanding is present in the West,
but concealed beneath cultural strata: giving sense to the 'special value'
we confer on the sweater knitted by a loved one.?????????)

Anyway comments about causation and references?
Cheers,
jim


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