Friday, March 6, 2009
Thursday, March 5, 2009
The ending of "Being There"
So...apparently in the book there is no funeral scene and Chance does not walk on water. What were the advantages or disadvantages of putting that spin on the film? Did it further the seriousness and profundity of the film or do the complete opposite?
Monday, March 2, 2009
Ferrara, Chapter 4 - "Heidegger's Hermeneutic Phenomenology"
Ferrara, Chapter 4 – “Heidegger’s Hermeneutic Phenomenology”
Summary - Ferrara, Chapter 4 – “Heidegger’s Hermeneutic Phenomenology”
At the heart of this chapter is Being and Phenomenology. Heidegger claims that the question of Being (“what Being is”), arguably the greatest question in Western Philosophy, has been forgotten. Ferrara continues to elaborate on this topic, stating that in this case, “being” should have a verbal syntactical role as well as a noun use, as in the German language (ex. “One is” vs. “One bees”).
Next, Ferrara talks about Heidegger’s views on Phenomenology. The word originally comes from two Greek words: phainomenon and logos. The first word signifies “to show itself”, or, “that which is manifest in the light of day.” The second refers to the “ability in man to communicate through discourse.” To Heidegger, logos “allows phenomena to appear simply as they are.” He believes that man originally used logos to communicate things exactly as they were with no presupposed notions, and eventually drifted towards conceptual thinking, which ultimately “removed the immediacy” from the connection between phenomena and man.
Ferrara uses Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” to put Heidegger’s views into perspective for readers. According to Heidegger, the things outside passing by the cave opening are not actual things; they are simply the “forms” or ideas of things. An example: “If one wants to judge what kind of father a particular man is, he does not go directly to that father (as the early Greeks might do) and let him show himself as he is.” There is apparently a preconceived perfect form of a father, and it is based on this notion that the actual instance is measured. Ferrara writes, “This early stage of a correspondence theory of truth…sets Western man forth, according to Heidegger, on his journey away from the openness and immediacy of things toward logical thinking.” To use one final quote to summarize the chapter, “One no longer engages things directly and in their immediacy. In this newer form…the actual thing is “re-presented”…first by use of a logical, concept or in the form of a proposition.
Response - Ferrara, Chapter 4 – “Heidegger’s Hermeneutic Phenomenology”
One again we find ourselves right back at one idea – “bias.” The overall message here is that bias has crept into all of our minds and ruined the purity and naturalness of “being” and simply noting what “is.” As I read Ferrara’s summary of “The Allegory of the Cave”, I really saw how Plato foreshadowed (perhaps unintentionally) how cynical society would become. It is very hard to just see things “the way they are” today; we always expect some kind of catch or hidden trick, probably because we have a hard time giving with no expectation of receiving. Similarly, there is a longstanding argument regarding how science has tainted religion, or vice versa. It is difficult for some to have faith in things that haven’t been proven to exist or actually be possible, and others feel there should be no inquiry into these arguably mythical ideas.
Whatever the case may be, attribute it to the innate, inevitable curiosity of mankind. Heidegger may have been upset that conceptual thinking replaced man’s ability to comment on things “as they are”, but the truth is civilization has shifted from “What is (blank)?” questions to “Why is/are (blank) questions?” in an attempt to satisfy curiosity.
Summary - Ferrara, Chapter 4 – “Heidegger’s Hermeneutic Phenomenology”
At the heart of this chapter is Being and Phenomenology. Heidegger claims that the question of Being (“what Being is”), arguably the greatest question in Western Philosophy, has been forgotten. Ferrara continues to elaborate on this topic, stating that in this case, “being” should have a verbal syntactical role as well as a noun use, as in the German language (ex. “One is” vs. “One bees”).
Next, Ferrara talks about Heidegger’s views on Phenomenology. The word originally comes from two Greek words: phainomenon and logos. The first word signifies “to show itself”, or, “that which is manifest in the light of day.” The second refers to the “ability in man to communicate through discourse.” To Heidegger, logos “allows phenomena to appear simply as they are.” He believes that man originally used logos to communicate things exactly as they were with no presupposed notions, and eventually drifted towards conceptual thinking, which ultimately “removed the immediacy” from the connection between phenomena and man.
Ferrara uses Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” to put Heidegger’s views into perspective for readers. According to Heidegger, the things outside passing by the cave opening are not actual things; they are simply the “forms” or ideas of things. An example: “If one wants to judge what kind of father a particular man is, he does not go directly to that father (as the early Greeks might do) and let him show himself as he is.” There is apparently a preconceived perfect form of a father, and it is based on this notion that the actual instance is measured. Ferrara writes, “This early stage of a correspondence theory of truth…sets Western man forth, according to Heidegger, on his journey away from the openness and immediacy of things toward logical thinking.” To use one final quote to summarize the chapter, “One no longer engages things directly and in their immediacy. In this newer form…the actual thing is “re-presented”…first by use of a logical, concept or in the form of a proposition.
Response - Ferrara, Chapter 4 – “Heidegger’s Hermeneutic Phenomenology”
One again we find ourselves right back at one idea – “bias.” The overall message here is that bias has crept into all of our minds and ruined the purity and naturalness of “being” and simply noting what “is.” As I read Ferrara’s summary of “The Allegory of the Cave”, I really saw how Plato foreshadowed (perhaps unintentionally) how cynical society would become. It is very hard to just see things “the way they are” today; we always expect some kind of catch or hidden trick, probably because we have a hard time giving with no expectation of receiving. Similarly, there is a longstanding argument regarding how science has tainted religion, or vice versa. It is difficult for some to have faith in things that haven’t been proven to exist or actually be possible, and others feel there should be no inquiry into these arguably mythical ideas.
Whatever the case may be, attribute it to the innate, inevitable curiosity of mankind. Heidegger may have been upset that conceptual thinking replaced man’s ability to comment on things “as they are”, but the truth is civilization has shifted from “What is (blank)?” questions to “Why is/are (blank) questions?” in an attempt to satisfy curiosity.
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