Heidegger, at least at the Being and Time stage, does not rigidly distinguish between thought and action. It's one of the things he has in common with pragmatism (and Marxism, come to think of it). Both are modes of the reciprocal relation of the human being and the world. By this I mean that the person approaches the world using certain assumptions, and the world accordingly "discloses" itself in terms of those assumptions. This is the aletheia (the Greek word for truth) that Justin was talking about earlier that precedes propositional truth -- things have to be disclosed within a certain context of interpretation before they can enter the prepositional realm. We've had this conversation offlist before I think.
For instance, the big rock outcropping outside of town is going to be experienced by me, that is, disclosed to me, differently if I am a 21st-century geologist studying its structure, a city planner trying to fit it into my vision of how the town's future expansion should be like, a jogger pissed off about the damn outcropping making her route longer, the local resident using the outcropping as a landmark, or a 5th-century Priest Worshipper of the Great Stone God who thinks the landmark is a deity.
Reality in this sense is perspectival.
--- Charles Brown <cbrown at michiganlegal.org> wrote:
^^^^^ CB: Metaphysics means primitive or first assumptions. And no thinking can go on without first assumptions.
I remember discovering this principle when I was about 17. I think I have it in a diary.
Is it activity or only thought that requires assumptions ?
Nu, zayats, pogodi!
__________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com