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From: hexis@netcom.com (James C. Harrison)
Subject: Re: Heidegger
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Date: Mon, 3 Jun 1996 18:31:25 GMT
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Gee, if you're going to get into Heidegger, I'd sure steer clear of the 
later stuff for the time being and read Being and Time. This tome is 
indeed a difficult book, but also a mighty rewarding one if you figure 
out what Heidegger is trying to do, namely describe human existance 
without importing elements of explanation into the description. While 
there are many problematic angles to the book, it has the virtue, similar 
to Kant's First Critique, of changing your view of the world even if you 
disagree with everything in it. One more hint: despite Heidegger's 
addiction to highfalutin language, his enterprise can be understood as a 
continuation of the thining of pragmatists like C.S. Pierce and James as 
well as the phenomenologists. By the way, good commentaries on Being and 
TIme are readily available. Hubert L. Dreyfus' Being-in-the-World: A 
Commentary on Heidegger's Being and Time is a good choice.

About Heidegger. I have every kind of reservation about this guy. His 
politics were indeed murky and he exhibited every bad feature of the 
German academy. OTOH, you find insight where you find it and Heidegger, 
whatever his faults, philosophized with terrific intensity. A person who 
thinks as hard as he did is like a radio with its volume on max: along 
with real signals that nobody else picks up, the instrument brings in a 
heck of a lot of static. An analogous problem occurs with physicists and 
mathematicians who try to storm heaven and end up hallucinating results. 

hexis

