Date: Wed, 05 Aug 1998 12:15:36 -0700
From: Mike Staples <mstaples-AT-argusqa.com>
Subject: Re: Henry


PhilSin-AT-aol.com wrote:

>      Hello, I'm back. I don't know if this will be good or bad news to
> you.
> I'd like to comment on the metaphysics of presence. My understanding
> is that
> this is the way of seeing the world that forms the basics for western
> metaphysics since the time of Plato. This is precisely the "tradition"
> the
> Heidegger proposed to deconstruct in the unwritten portion of B&T. My
> understanding of the term is that it refers to the operation of
> "stopping"
> time , stopping the happening of life and "fixing" the present time
> and then
> trying to reduce the object through further and further refinements of
> its
> being to arrive at last at the essence of the thing, the thing in
> itself.
> Contrast this with the "presencing" of the object, how it comes into a
>
> particular historical being, how aspectsof the thing are unconcealed
> but
> always at the expense of other aspects being concealed. The epochs of
> being
> play a role in the what of unconcealment as does the interests,
> projects and
> intentions of the seer. This analysis forms the basis for the critique
> of
> science as truth as it shows that both the epoch (the technological
> epoch) and
> the intentions of the "investigator" (the forestructure of the
> scientist),
> pre-determine the outcome even if the "scientist" believes he or she
> is merely
> observing and recording "objective" data.
>      Later on Heidegger analysed the thing from the perspective of the
>
> fourfold, a rich and poetic understanding of the things themselves.

Hi Phil. Nice to have you back. Yes, you comments help to return my
world to partial order. You saw where I got this passage that threw me,
right? Right there, smack in the middle of Zimmerman's book, he states
that Heidegger felt that being was to be equated to presence. Upon
reading this I began breaking out in hives. But it does give me th
opportunity to ask our pal Henry to clarify a thing or two.

Michael S.



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