Building, Living, Thinking
Lecture by [Heidegger
Included in the Japanese translation of "[What is technology?
2022-01-15-17
It's hard to introduce it because it's written in scattered parts, but here, for example
We do not need to surrender what is already formed. When we precisely understand its formed intricacy, that is just when we exceed its forms. When we don't understand a book, we can only quote it. To understand it is to dwell-think in its forms, and that is more precise than the forms.
nishio.iconTranslation: We need not surrender to "what is already structured. When we understand a complex structure accurately, that is the moment to go beyond that structure. When we read a book and do not understand it, we can only quote it. To understand a book is to dwell-think within its structure, which is a more accurate understanding than the written structure.
Heidegger wrote
Thinking itself also belongs to living, in the same sense as building, but in a different way.
In other words, it is necessary to first understand in what sense building belongs to living.
Heidegger considers what these words "build" and "dwell" meant in the ancient language, rather than what the words mean today.
In the modern interpretation, "building" is done for the purpose of "living," and "building" is a means to "living," and the two are recognized as two separate acts.
But in the ancient language, "to build" = "to live".
This "dwell" was a concept closely related to "stay" and "be present."
From this, Heidegger believes that "to build is essentially to dwell" and that "to dwell is the fundamental trend of human existence.
Next, Heidegger delves into "building
In addition to the meaning "to build," which is similar to the modern "to construct a ship or temple," the word "build" is associated with the meanings "to cultivate a field," "to grow grapes," "to protect the growth of plants and trees that naturally bear fruit," "to care for," "to look after," and "to labor over.
In light of this, Heidegger believes that "the fundamental trend of dwelling is to labor.
By "exertion," Heidegger is referring to "active" or "bringing something back to its essence."
nishio.iconInterpreting a word back to its original meaning rather than its modern meaning, as Heidegger has done up to this point, is a form of "laboring".
This is not explicitly stated.
Heidegger wrote, "Thinking itself belongs to dwelling in the same sense as building, but in a different way. This may be testified to in the path of contemplation we have attempted in this issue." He writes.
The whole thing makes sense if we consider that "interpreting a word back to its original meaning rather than its modern meaning," which is done in this "tried and true path of contemplation," is a kind of "laboring" in the sense of "actively bringing something back to its essence.
In other words, such a kind of "thinking" is "laboring," and since it is "building," it is "dwelling. In this sense, "thinking itself, in the same sense as building, belongs to dwelling" is valid.
I say "but in a different way" because "building" is creating "things as places" and not "laboring" in the same way.
(I did not explain how to do this because it is not the main topic of this page, but the original text says quite a lot about it.)
nishio.iconAbout understanding and dwell-think
Heidegger's approach was to return to the original meaning of a word and look at its relationship to other words as a concrete way of working with it.
Original meaning, not modern meaning
One specific approach I took to laboring was to look at the words Heidegger used and see how they relate to other words, without interpreting them arbitrarily.
Not the dictionary meaning, but the meaning Heidegger was trying to express.
Words were placed on the Kozaneba to visualize the relationship.
This is dwell-think because labor is the fundamental trend of dwelling As Eugene T. Gendlin said in Phenomenology as an illogical stage, "When we read a book and cannot understand it, we can only quote it. To understand a book is to dwell-think within its structure, which is a more accurate understanding than the written structure." Let's recall the By this dwell-think process, I am not just quoting what Heidegger wrote, but I am able to verbalize what is not written, "It's not written, but if you think of it this way, it makes sense overall" = more accurate understanding than the written structure.
It adds up against both Heidegger and Eugene Gendlin as I'm doing in this paragraph now.
--- History
And then I wrote, "Do I really understand him?" I wondered, and decided to read what Heidegger wrote
2021-12-10 A quick read
I decided that it is not the type of text that can be skimmed and understood, so it needs to be read carefully.
"By creating a pseudo "symbolic space for the other party" through the placement of sticky notes, we can "live" by working within that space.
To verify if this "understanding = hypothesis" is correct, we put it into practice and observed the results.
I found that my initial interpretation of "dwell" was different from what Heidegger meant by the word "dwell".
2022-01-13
Heidegger's approach was to return to the original meaning of a word and look at its relationship to other words as a concrete way of working with it.
Original meaning, not modern meaning
One specific approach I took to laboring was to look at the words Heidegger used and see how they relate to other words, without interpreting them arbitrarily.
Not the dictionary meaning, but the meaning Heidegger was trying to express.
So both are "laboring = thinking."
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This page is auto-translated from /nishio/建てること、住むこと、考えること using DeepL. If you looks something interesting but the auto-translated English is not good enough to understand it, feel free to let me know at @nishio_en. I'm very happy to spread my thought to non-Japanese readers.