Heidegger comments Roughly speaking, philosophy always aims at the first and last grounds of beings, and it does so in such a way that human beings themselves, with respect to their way of Being, are emphatically interpreted and given an aim (Heidegger, IM, 11) What is, as such and as a whole, the Greeks called … (Part 7) Blogging Through Martin Heidegger’s “Introduction to Metaphysics”

Academic disciplines do not exist in a vacuum; they are structured frameworks designed to answer fundamental inquiries about such things as our universe, past, and minds. An object of inquiry is any phenomenon, entity, or concept designated as the subject of systematic investigation, characterized by its finitude, intelligibility, and capacity to generate testable or interpretable … (Part 6) Blogging Through Martin Heidegger’s “Introduction to Metaphysics”

We’ve been looking at the basic question of metaphysics, “Why are there beings at all rather than nothing,” and have found some interesting points.  The question suggests beings have a “why,” and we seem to know what and how beings are and what and how we mean “Nothing” – as the question isn’t incoherent to … (Part 5) Blogging Through Martin Heidegger’s “Introduction to Metaphysics”

With the basic question of metaphysics “Why are there beings at all rather than nothing,” our question implies beings have a “why,” a ground that is not just a cause in the ordinary sense.  Moreover, we are not just asking after this or that being or the total collection of beings, but rather beings as … (Part 4) Blogging Through Martin Heidegger’s “Introduction to Metaphysics”

Angelus Silesius (wiki) Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (wiki) A famous two-line verse by Angelus Silesius from his work Cherubinischer Wandersmann is titled “Ohne Warum” (“Without Why”).  The literal English translation is: “The rose is without why; it blooms because it blooms, It pays no attention to itself, nor asks if it is seen” Leibniz (1646–1716)—a contemporary … (Part 3) Blogging Through Martin Heidegger’s “Introduction to Metaphysics”

Heidegger raises the basic question of metaphysics of “why are their beings at all rather than nothing (Introduction to Metaphysics, 1)?”  Negatively, we see “to be a being” apparently excludes nothingness: entities “are” in some way or other: the tree, car, dream, hallucination, etc all “are” in some way or other rather than being nothing.  … (Part 2) Blogging Through Martin Heidegger’s “Introduction to Metaphysics”

I will be blogging my way through Martin Heidegger’s Introduction to Metaphysics. This is one of the great works by an important 20th century philosopher. Philosophically, metaphysics is the study of ultimate reality—the fundamental nature of existence, being, and the world. While popular culture often treats it as “spooky physics” or quantum mysticism, the word … (Part 1) Blogging Through Martin Heidegger’s “Introduction to Metaphysics”

People forget Plato talks about parousia (παρουσία) in the relation of the eternal forms to the temporal. (1) Temporal Being is imitation (mimesis / μίμησις) of the extratemporal.(2) The extratemporal is the paradigm (paradeigma / παράδειγμα), and the temporal is the after-copy (eidolon / εἴδωλον).(3) The temporal participates (metexei / μετέχει) in the extratemporal (methexis … Reflections on My Presentation on History Valley Podcast with Jacob Berman on Parousia and Domitian

The word parousia in the New Testament means the second coming of Christ. What is the etymology of parousia? In Plato’s Phaedo, parousia means presence, Beauty itself is present (parousia) incarnate in the beautiful thing. How do we get from the platonic Greek understanding of parousia as presence to the New Testament Greek usage as … My Notes for Discussing the Parousia on History Valley Podcast Tomorrow with Jacob Berman