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Title: The Basic Problems of Phenomenology (Studies in Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy) by Martin Heidegger, Albert Hofstadter ISBN: 0-253-20478-X Publisher: Indiana University Press Pub. Date: August, 1988 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 5 (2 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Clean as a whistle, until it defines "is"
Comment: Mostly, philosophy is clean as a whistle, and we rarely understand it well enough to bow to the obviously superior form of intellect which, lecturing in 1927, strove to convince those who would like to consider themselves at the cutting edge of knowledge that:
"We have here once again the peculiar circumstance that the unveiling appropriation of the extant in its being-such is precisely not a subjectivizing but just the reverse, an appropriating of the uncovered determinations to the extant entity as it is itself." (p. 219).
If you read the small print on the cover of THE BASIC PROBLEMS OF PHENOMENOLOGY (1982, published in German as Die Grundprobleme der Phanomenologie in 1975) by Martin Heidegger, you will see that this book includes "Translation, Introduction, and Lexicon by Albert Hofstadter." The Lexicon is quite an accomplishment: pages 339 to 396 contain a wealth of information about the pages on which particular words ended up in this translation of lectures by Heidegger on philosophical problems. If you read the book first, then come to the first entry on page 340, "already, always already, antecedent, before, beforehand, earlier, in advance, precedent, prior--expressions used with great frequency: . . ." you know that dozens of pages can be cited for "some characteristic instances: . . . " Longer entries provide more complete indexing for being, being-in-the-world, beings, Da, Dasein, exist, extant, horizon, interpretation, "is" (See copula), Kant, now, nows (nun), ontological, ontology, philosophy, problem, problems, problems, specific, projection, project, self, structure, subject, Temporal, Temporality, temporal, temporality (zeitlich . . .), temporalize (zeitigen), theses, thing, thingness, thinghood, thinking, time, transcend, truth, understand, understanding of being, unveil, and world.
Frankly, I am glad that I have previously attempted to read lectures and the Heraclitus seminars which used the Greek alphabet (alpha, beta, gamma, delta, etc.) for Greek words, so that I was warned that translation was necessary, and I learned enough Greek words to recognize that ancient language even when it is printed in transliterated form, with no indication that a foreign language is being used, as frequently occurs in this book.
"In a corresponding passage Aristotle says that this `is' means a synthesis and is accordingly en sumploke dianoias kai pathos en taute, it is the coupling that the intellect produces as combining intellect, and this `is' means something that does not occur among things; it means a being, but a being that is, as it were, a state of thought." (p. 182).
People with absolutely no knowledge of Greek might try reading the Lexicon entry for "Greek expressions" (pp. 358-359) before reading pages 73, 86, 115, etc. to remind themselves that when they read "to on" on page 53, they were reading Greek, as "to ti en einai" on page 85 is a bit more obviously not in English, as Aristotle was not. How helpful is this? Consider the final entry in Greek expressions: zoe, 121. Looking it up, I find in the final paragraph of section 12:
"First, however, one problem makes its claim on our attention: besides the extant (at-hand extantness) there are beings in the sense of the Dasein, who exists. But this being which we ourselves are--was this not always already known, in philosophy and even in pre-philosophical knowledge? Can one make such a fuss about stressing expressly the fact that besides the extant at-hand there is also this being that we ourselves are? After all, every Dasein, insofar as it is, always already knows about itself and knows that it differs from other beings. We ourselves said that for all its being oriented primarily to the extant at-hand, ancient ontology nevertheless is familiar with psuche, nous, logos, zoe, bios, soul, reason, life in the broadest sense. Of course. But it should be borne in mind that the ontical, factual familiarity of a being does not after all guarantee a suitable interpretation of its being." (pp. 120-121).
The actual lectures only consist of 22 sections, with "The Being of the Copula" in Chapter Four (pp. 177-224) primarily considered in sections 16 and 17, though the outline of the subject at the end of Heidegger's Introduction, section 6, suggested that this would be at the end of Part One, Chapter Four. Section 18 on the existential mode of being of truth has also been included at the end of Chapter Four, where it seems to follow quite naturally. Though it is only followed by Part Two, Chapter One, anyone who wishes to imagine more may adopt the idea stated by Heidegger on page 225 that Part Two would also have four chapters, in which we could encounter the basic problems again ending with "fourthly, the problem of the truth-character of being."
There isn't anything about pandering in the Lexicon, but the 22 listings for "copula" might be close, considering the "See `is' " cross-reference and the amount of political scandal that has recently been generated by President Clinton when he was trying to think non-copulatively in the way he defined "is." The 1908 Oxford translation of Aristotle included in note 4 on page 181 illustrates the kind of compartmentalization that most people exhibited in thinking about the impeachment proceedings:
"For neither are `to be' and `not to be' and the participle `being' significant of any fact, unless something is added; for they do not themselves indicate anything, but imply a copulation, of which we cannot form a conception apart from the things coupled."
Rating: 5
Summary: Continuation of Being and Time
Comment: This book is a must read for those that choose to read Being and Time. The book itself is based, like so many of Heidegger's books, off of a lecture course he gave at the University of Marburg in the summer of 1927. This is important because Being and Time was ready for publication in 1927. If we put Kant and the Problem of Metaphysics alongside The Basic Problems of Phenomenology and Being and Time, we have the predominant whole of early Heideggerian thinking.
As for the book itself (for now on referred to as BP), the book is incomplete--just like Being and Time. Heidegger undertakes Three Parts each with Four chapters (see page 24). But BP only deals with all of Part One and only chapter 1 of Part Two. Heidegger gets no farther than the Problem of Ontological Difference (entities vs. the Being of entities) and the lecture course ends. But the book is extraordinarly helpful because of what it does address. Part One is elaborate and interesting because it deals with other philosophers and their ideas. Heidegger pays particular attention to Kant, Aristotle, Descartes and explains how their ideas have been inherited into the contemporary philosophic era. What I found most interesting was the deconstruction of Medieval and Modern ontology. Heidegger thus gives a broad historical interpretation of the history of philosophy and explains the presuppositions of each period.
Obviously this book is not for philosophical neophytes. The book should only be undertaken by those with some background in 20th century philosophy and knowledge of basic Heideggerian thought. The book's appeal should thus be limited to few individuals, and certainly only those with philosophic interest.
The book borrows much of the terminology from Being and Time with some notable exceptions. Authenticity and inauthenticity have pracitically been dropped. The term "horizon" becomes notably more important and the term "Temporality" is of great importance to understanding what is being disclosed from the text. Ontological difference is explicitly defined, though it was implicitly defined in Being and Time. Pay particular attention to Part Two of the work, for it questions through many of the underlying questions I had after completing Being and Time. If you are disappointed how the book abruptly ends, it is to be expected. But for those 285 people on Earth interested in Heidegger this book is indispensable. But read Being and Time first!
Philosophy Student,
Drake University
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Title: Kant and the Problem of Metaphysics (Studies in Continental Thought) by Martin Heidegger, Richard Taft ISBN: 0253210674 Publisher: Indiana University Press Pub. Date: July, 1997 List Price(USD): $17.95 |
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Title: History of the Concept of Time (Studies in Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy) by Martin Heidegger, Theodore Kisiel ISBN: 0253207177 Publisher: Indiana University Press Pub. Date: August, 1992 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: The Metaphysical Foundations of Logic (Studies in Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy) by Martin Heidegger, Michael Heim ISBN: 0253207649 Publisher: Indiana University Press Pub. Date: November, 1992 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: Ontology: The Hermeneutics of Facticity (Studies in Continental Thought) by Martin Heidegger, John Van Buren, John van Buren ISBN: 0253335078 Publisher: Indiana University Press Pub. Date: 30 July, 1999 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: Being and Time by Martin Heidegger ISBN: 0060638508 Publisher: Harper SanFrancisco Pub. Date: 01 August, 1962 List Price(USD): $29.95 |
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