From: "Prof. Dr. Rafael Capurro" <capurro-AT-hbi-stuttgart.de>
Subject: Re: deinotaton and impotence
Date: Tue, 22 Dec 1998 11:36:34 +0100


Andrew,


>Is violence merely a human affair? <


We use in German for  _violent eruption of volcanoes_  the word _gewaltig_.
I was trying to make a distinction between _Macht_ (power) and _Gewalt_ as
H. puts this last word in the context of _to deinon_ i.e. of the _design_
(!) of being-human by Sophocles. H. says in _Einfuehrung zur Met._ (p. 113)
that his interpretation is partial (_unzureichend_) because it does not take
into account the whole context of _Antigone_.
H. uses indeed _Gewalt_ or _das Ueberwaeltigende_ for instance with regard
to the earth and the sea in their _walten_ (being). Men are (according to
Sophocles) the ones who try to _master_ this (_Baendigen und Fuegen der
Gewalten_) (through language, understanding, art (Bilden) and architecture
(Bauen)) and at the same time the one who fails (scheitert) this in face of
death.
H. translates _dike_ with _Das Üeberwaeltigende_ and also with _Fug_ (and
Gefuege and Fuegung, or Weisung). Men look forward to dominate through
_techne_ the _dike_ and ... they fail.
H. uses also _Das Unheimlichste des Unheimllchen_ for translating
_deinotaton_ of _deinon_ which is Being-as-a-whole (das Seinde im Ganzen)
and finally _physis_ Being itself
Gewalt hat in this context not primarily with doing-harm (to somebody) but
with _baendigen_ (taming) and _fuegen_  (to put/to place) of _Gewalten_. Man
has to _tame_ (bewaetigen) the opennes of beings (Erschlossenheit
desSeienden), which is a _Gewalt_. _Legeing_ is a _Gewalt-tat_ against the
Overhelming  and _for_ (!) it (p. 135).
kind regards
Rafael


I am not sure that with the Englisch word _violence_ all this (and much
more) of the _semantic net_ of German _Gewalt_ can be said in the same way.
The trans-lation Gewalt/violence seems to me problematic.

- for instance if my pit bull bit off my
>arm I would consider it  a violent act, we refer to harsh storms as
>violent, or violent eruptions of volcanoes etc.  Is this just
>anthropomorphism or is being-violent a propensity of being?  The current
>violence against Iraq is the violence of a state, not a person, as far as I
>can make out with the sketchy reports "news" services provide.
>
>H.'s analysis of "imperial" actions in the Parmenides volume, the 'trick'
>or the sneaking around the back and tripping up seems key to the economic
>pax americana where actions like the current bombing are (relatively)
>rarely necessary in order to control the anarchic society of nations.  The
>word peace itself comes out as an imperial form of control.
>
>cheers
>Andrew
>
>
>
>
>
>capurro/42:45 PM
>
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>Subject:  Re: deinotaton and impotence
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