[lbo-talk] Grappling with Heidegger

[Charles Brown]

Chris Doss :
Right. The individual does not come first. The
individual (in Heidegger) finds itself in a world full
of meanings that have been passively absorbed by it
(to the extent that Dasein, which is essentially
dynamic and directed outward to the world, can be
passive). Many of these meanings have been passed on
by "history." The individual does not produce meaning
-- rather, it discloses it in the process of
interaction with the world. 

^^^
CB: How are these meanings made ? What is "history" ?

^^^^^^

What is true is that for
Heidegger (and he's right, IMO) history is always
appropriated by the individual in terms of the
individual's understanding of the present and future.

^^^^
CB: What about the passive absorbtion of these meanings ? Doesn't the
passive absorbtion impact how an individual understands the present and
future ?

^^^^^

History is a value-laden enterprise, to use
non-Heideggerian language. To put it in mundane
political terms, the way a US conservative interprets
US history is different from the way a US liberal or
radical or neo-Nazi or whatever will interpret it,
because they are looking for different things in the
light of their own contemporary political projects.

^^^^
CB: People aren't born liberal, radical or neo-Nazis, are they ?