Date: Tue, 14 Jul 1998 06:58:29 -0700
From: Mike Staples <mstaples-AT-argusqa.com>
Subject: Mood and Background


Michael E.,

I have been re-reading many of the postings on the list from years past,
and ran across something you had said that was of particular interest to
the grubbing, psychology-seeking part of me. In this posting you were
talking about Dasein's shifting of attention from one being to another,
and how when Dasein shifts its attention away from one being, that being
recedes into the background. You wrote:

"For example, as Dasein shifts it focus of attention in shifting its
involvement with beings _as such_, other beings come into view (the view
of explicit understanding), whereas other beings fade from view, recede
into the background. This background has not simply disappeared,
however, but makes itself ‘felt’ (Angang) in mood, in one way or the
other, in one mode or the other."

In looking for alternative ways of thinking about "the unconscious",
this seemed important. How is it that the background which is "there"
but not "there" makes itself known through mood? Is this a special
feature of mood -- that it has access to the background of understanding
(is this a background of understanding?)?

Michael Staples



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