Date: Wed, 15 Aug 2001 21:26:36 -0700
Subject: Re: philosphy 101




Bob Guevara wrote:

> being an engineer with a common man's interest in philosophy, i'd appreciate
> some insight into why continentals view american pragmatists with a slightly
> up-turned nose. ...what --exactly-- is the objection to hubert dreyfus'
> pragmatic approach to heidegger.
>
> thanks in advance,
> bob

As much as I like Dreyfus, it seems to me that there is something of the Poetic
nature of Heidegger that is lost in the American stream of thought. Dreyfus is
very nuts-and-bolts. I'm not sure he would characterize himself as a
"Pragmatist" though. But much of his writing is very clear and precise. In fact,
he himself considers his real contribution to the world to be his work with
Artificial Intelligence...using Heidegger's thoughts to attack the notion that
computers can "think". To do this, he has been forced to enter a way of thinking
that has a very American kind of "Analytic" to it. And he does quite well, I
think. But I too believe that the mystery of understanding that heidegger
presents sometimes suffers from this. That's my take on it. I personally find a
world of difference between the thoughts of Dreyfus and those of Michael E., for
instance. Michael does retain that feel of poetry in his writing. And I also
think that sometimes the only way to understand Heidegger is on this plane.

Michael S.





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