Date: Sun, 31 May 1998 20:28:20 -0700 (PDT)
From: callihan-AT-callihan.seanet.com (Steven E. Callihan)
Subject: Re: Self-evidently so ...


Michael Staples wrote:

>Steven E. Callihan wrote:
>
>> To exist, then, would mean to possess attributes (the attributes of a
>> man, a
>> woman, a tree, a hammer). Being, on the other hand, is attribute-less
>> (or
>> attribute-lessness).
>
>Steve, here is the paragraph submitted by Laurence:
>
>GA40: "Trees are, but do not exist, God is, but
>does not exist ..." there are statements of this kind in a number of
>places) - only Dasein as such exists (existence meaning being that being
>for
>whom the being of being can be an issue).
>
>How does this match up to your suggestion that to exist means to possess
>attributes? As you point out, a tree has attributes and therefore must
>exist. According to the quote from GA40, trees do not exist.
>
>Wadaya think?

Well, specific trees do exist, but I'm not sure that a conceptual category
exists other than as a conceptual category (trees in general), which, of
course, takes us back to the "what is a tree?" discussion from some time
ago. So, trees in general do not exist, if you will, if only because they
don't form an embodiment, are an abstraction. That tree or this tree,
however... The same goes for the forest, as long as it is a specific forest
(the Black Forest, for instance) -- it too exists.

It is difficult for me to see Dasein as existing, in that would locate
Dasein as present within Existence, as existent. Dasein, it seems to me, is
simply Existence. Does Existence exist? No. Existence is.

Best,

Steve C.


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=A6 Steven E. Callihan            =A6 "It is the stillest words that bring  =A6
=A6                               =A6 on the storm. Thoughts that come on   =A6
=A6                               =A6 doves' feet guide the world."         =A6
=A6 URL: http://www.callihan.com/ =A6 -F. Nietzsche, Thus Spake Zarathustra,=A6
=A6 E-Mail: callihan-AT-callihan.com =A6 II, "The Stillest Hour"               =A6
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