Wednesday, April 05, 2006
Notes for Thursday, April 6
Read to p. 361. Quine, Husserl, Heidegger. (We will omit consideration of the philosophy of Quine in this course--but note that he developed a compelling argument against the ultimate validity of the distinction between synthetic and analytic propositions: cf. p. 341-342.)
Edmund Husserl (1859-1938)
Founder of a movement called "phenomenology," from the Greek φαινω, to appear. It is, as a first approximation, the study of appearances, the manner in which things appear, making abstraction of the ontological status of the content of what appears. It was to be purely descriptive, non-theoretical. The natural standpoint as our point of entry into the lived world (German: Lebenswelt). To describe the natural standpoint, however, it was necessary to "get behind it," i.e. to suspend it, to perform the "phenomenological reduction" (epochê, or "suspension of belief). Possible application of this notion to aesthetics. Non-interpretive seeing. The phenomenology of time-consciousness was elucidated by Husserl in a series of lectures published as Vorlesungen zur Phänomenologie des inneren Zeitbewußtseins (Lectures on the Phenomenology of Internal Time-Consciousness). The intentionality of all consciousness.
Martin Heidegger (1889-1976)Collegue of Husserl, whom he replaced when Jews were no longer allowed to work in Germany (1933-45). Heidegger extended the range of application of Husserl's ideas to the area of ontology. He distinguished between the ontic (study of "beings," das Seinede) and the ontological (study of "being," das Sein). The philosophical use of etymology, e.g. a-letheia, the Greek word for truth, means literaly un-covered, or dis-covered. Care (German Sorge) is an important concept in Heidegger, as it characterizes the human way of being (Dasein, or Being-There). He describes it as a Sich-vorweg-schon-sein-in (der Welt-)als Sein-bei (innerweltlich begegnendem Seienden), that is, an "ahead-of-itself-Being-already-in-(the-world) as Being-alongside (entities encountered within-the-world). We are the only beings whose own Being is a question for itself. Other beings are, while we ex-ist. The "present-at-hand" (die Vorhanden) distinguished from the "ready-to-hand" (die Zuhanden). Dasein as a being-toward-death. Being and Time (Sein und Zeit), his unfinished but most important work, was published in 1927. Heidegger joins the Nazi (National Socialist) party of Adolf Hitler, and praises the ideas of the Third Reich. Becomes rector of the university of Freiburg. Is there a connection between his philosophy and his support of Hitler? Can one be a great philosopher and a miserable human being? There is no general agreement on this point.
Edmund Husserl (1859-1938)
Founder of a movement called "phenomenology," from the Greek φαινω, to appear. It is, as a first approximation, the study of appearances, the manner in which things appear, making abstraction of the ontological status of the content of what appears. It was to be purely descriptive, non-theoretical. The natural standpoint as our point of entry into the lived world (German: Lebenswelt). To describe the natural standpoint, however, it was necessary to "get behind it," i.e. to suspend it, to perform the "phenomenological reduction" (epochê, or "suspension of belief). Possible application of this notion to aesthetics. Non-interpretive seeing. The phenomenology of time-consciousness was elucidated by Husserl in a series of lectures published as Vorlesungen zur Phänomenologie des inneren Zeitbewußtseins (Lectures on the Phenomenology of Internal Time-Consciousness). The intentionality of all consciousness.
Martin Heidegger (1889-1976)Collegue of Husserl, whom he replaced when Jews were no longer allowed to work in Germany (1933-45). Heidegger extended the range of application of Husserl's ideas to the area of ontology. He distinguished between the ontic (study of "beings," das Seinede) and the ontological (study of "being," das Sein). The philosophical use of etymology, e.g. a-letheia, the Greek word for truth, means literaly un-covered, or dis-covered. Care (German Sorge) is an important concept in Heidegger, as it characterizes the human way of being (Dasein, or Being-There). He describes it as a Sich-vorweg-schon-sein-in (der Welt-)als Sein-bei (innerweltlich begegnendem Seienden), that is, an "ahead-of-itself-Being-already-in-(the-world) as Being-alongside (entities encountered within-the-world). We are the only beings whose own Being is a question for itself. Other beings are, while we ex-ist. The "present-at-hand" (die Vorhanden) distinguished from the "ready-to-hand" (die Zuhanden). Dasein as a being-toward-death. Being and Time (Sein und Zeit), his unfinished but most important work, was published in 1927. Heidegger joins the Nazi (National Socialist) party of Adolf Hitler, and praises the ideas of the Third Reich. Becomes rector of the university of Freiburg. Is there a connection between his philosophy and his support of Hitler? Can one be a great philosopher and a miserable human being? There is no general agreement on this point.
# posted by Michael @ 6:00 PM 
