Date: Wed, 21 Aug 2002 16:51:15 -0500
Subject: Re: Heidegger speaks


At 1:51 PM +0200 8/15/02, Michael Eldred wrote:
>Cologne 15-Aug-2002
>
>allen scult schrieb Wed, 14 Aug 2002 16:16:25 -0500:
>
>
>  > The verse I would like to ask about is SuZ #26 (p.123 in the German):
>>
>>  "As Being-with, Dasein 'is' essentially for the sake of others." (M & R)
>>
>>  Als mitsein  'ist' daher das Dasein wesenhaft umwillen Anderer.
>>
>>  The heading of this section is " The Dasein-with of Others and
>>  Everyday Being-with."
>>
>>  This juxtaposition seems to suggest a profound interdependence in
>>  Dasein's active life with others,
>>  especially when philosophizing.
>>
>>  But I say too much.  I mean to leave it as a question, relevant to
>>  the discussion .
>
>One possibility of amplification is to regard the statement
>
>"Als Mitsein  'ist' daher das Dasein wesenhaft umwillen Anderer." 
>(SuZ #26 p.123)
>
>as the transposition of Aristotle's Wesensbestimmung of _anthropos_ as _zoion
>politikon_, i.e. the living being that congregates around the pole 
>of the polis.
>
>A look at Heidegger's lectures of the twenties shows that "umwillen" is his
>consistent  translation of Aristotle's important concept of _hou 
>heneka_, often
>rendered in English as "purpose".
>
>For what  'purpose', or for the sake of what, does the congregation of human
>beings in daily life take place "at first and for the most part"?
>
>The shoes I wear were made by a shoemaker.


When I first read this, it occurred to me that my shoes are made by a 
company that is controlled by a large conglomerate.  Not quite the 
way it is with me and my students as we discourse on
_anthropos_ as _zoion politikon.  It's nice to think of myself as an 
old fashioned shoemaker! But on to a level of perhaps deeper 
significance.

Thinking about "purpose" appropriately entangles the verse.  A 
personal Midrash on the subject:

I used to feel somewhat sad, perhaps even a bit guilty, that I seem 
to have brought my
children into a world without purpose.  Now, it still makes me sad, 
when the interdeterminacy of it all
makes things a bit too turbulant, but for the most part, I'm happy 
for them.  Purpose is too close to necessity to be any fun.  Reminds 
me of Kant, where the only thing left to do is fulfill one's moral 
duty.

Of course we are  ARE the "living being which congregates ( great 
word!). . . ," but as Heidgger says of being-with,  it (being-with) 
is to be understood existentially, not categorically! The "how" of 
our congregating is purposeful only insofar as the being of Dasein 
needs to move in a particular direction in order to be what it is. 
The particular direction in which Dasein moves is in every case its 
own, but as far as I can see, the directionality of the  movement of 
Dasein is only recognizable only in and through Dasein's 
being-with-others.  Which of course brings me back to my children and 
my sadness. . .

Allen
-- 
  Allen Scult					Dept. of Philosophy
HOMEPAGE: " Heidegger on Rhetoric and Hermeneutics":	Drake University
http://www.multimedia2.drake.edu/s/scult/scult.html	Des Moines, Iowa 50311
PHONE: 515 271 2869
FAX: 515 271 3826


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