From: "Prof. Dr. Rafael Capurro" <capurro-AT-hbi-stuttgart.de>
Subject: Re: God and Being
Date: Thu, 28 May 1998 21:45:48 +0200


Michael,
the question of god and the question of being are indeed, according to
Heidegger (and in contra-diction to metaphysical tradition) two different
questions concerning two different matters. According to H. metaphysics
(Aristotle) was asking for a (!) being that would give the measure for all
other beings (ontology=theology). H. intends to separate both questions: the
being of god is not the measure for the being of beings. Why? Well because
according to metaphysics the being of god is conceived as permanent presence
(aei nun, nunc stans). H. _falsifies_ (in a Popperian way) metaphysics by
showing that there is at least one being (Dasein) whose being is not only
presence but - time (past and future). Further on H. shows that this first
approximation to the question of being only provides a _relative_ foundation
of ontology, given that other ways of being (of beings) such as mathematical
objects, readiness-to-hand etc. cannot be related to the preliminary
_foundation_ of the analytic of Dasein without distorting in some way their
specificity. Further on H. states that there is no _a_ frame of casting
being but that this question is subjected to historic variations. Hegel had
tried to connect all this forms into a single (hi)story but the price for
this is a a-historical (theological) fundament (metaphysics once again).
There is no question of substituting Got for Being, but a question of how
God's (and human's) being can be casted. Tradition thought human _being_
according to _the_ Being of God, identifying indeed God and Being. Heidegger
is not just doing the contrary but trying to separate the question of being,
from the question of god and finally also from the question of Da-sein as
far as Being and Dasein _need_ each other but are not _the same_ (in the
sense of _das Gleiche_, maybe in the sense of _das Selbe_ i.e. that they
belong together although they are ant-agonistic). By thus re-placing the
question of being outside the question of god H. at the same time lets open
the way(s) of casting god's being (I recall in this regard that K. Rahner
was one of the first theologians to think the question of an evolution of
christian _dogmata_...). So, thinking being within the context of
_a-letheia_ give us the opportunity not only to _state_ the question of god
from a very different horizon as done by (metaphysical) tradition but also ,
given the historicity of being, to become open for a casting of being
_inside_ which a god may shine. This is not a gnostic proposition of
_waiting for Godot_ but it means simply the acknowledgement that there is
(probably) a being whose appearence (or disappearence) is not dependent
(alone) on our casting. Yes, there is some _theologia negativa_ in all this,
if we here the word _negative_ in the sense of the _lethe_ i.e. as a
dimension possibilitating the shining. In short: no identification of being
and god but a separation of both questions (and subjects), although
replacing the question of being into an existential context gives rise to a
_new_ thinking of god's being. All this remains terribly speculative if we
do not conceive it in the sense of a _formale Anzeige_ i.e. as a start for
living without fundament, open (among others) to _some-thing_ we have being
calling (in both sense of the word) got.
kind regards
rafael

-----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
Von: Mike Staples <mstaples-AT-argusqa.com>
An: heidegger-AT-lists.village.Virginia.EDU
<heidegger-AT-lists.village.Virginia.EDU>
Datum: Donnerstag, 28. Mai 1998 19:42
Betreff: Re: God and Being


>Prof. Dr. Rafael Capurro wrote:
>
>> This is, in my opinion, a way of thinking God (or
>> god(s)) within the horizon of _a-letheia_.
>
>What is the difference between saying that we can substitute God for
>Being (and thereby find a new way of thinking both), and saying that we
>have a "way of thinking god...within the horizon of a-letheia"?
>
>Michael Staples
>
>
>
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