The Fourth Heaven

"The Fourth Heaven" is a reference to the Divine Comedy, by Dante Alighieri. In "Paradiso" (Cantos X-XIV), the Fourth Heaven is the sphere of the Theologians and Fathers of the Church. I would not presume to place myself on the same level as those greats, but I am interested in philosophy and theology; so the reference fits. I started this blog back in 2005 and it has basically served as a repository for my thoughts and musings on a wide variety of topics.

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Location: Riverside, California, United States

I am currently a graduate student in philosophy, doing research on theories of moral motivation and moral reasons. I'm also interested in topics in the philosophy of science--especially theories of explanation--and would like to become better acquainted with the writings of Kierkegaard, Husserl, and Heidegger. I am currently a member of the Free Methodist Church, have a broadly Evangelical Christian background, and am learning to better appreciate that tradition and heritage. I have a growing interest in historical and systematic theology (especially the doctrine of the Trinity and soteriology) and church history. I'm always thrilled when I get the chance to teach or preach. I like drawing, painting, and calligraphy. I really enjoy Victorian novels and I think "Middlemarch" is my favorite. I'm working on relearning how to be a really thoughtful and perceptive reader. I enjoy hiking and weight training, the "Marx Brothers", and "Pinky and the Brain".

Thursday, May 28, 2009

Graduate 142: BT 14: Introduction to Part One, Division One

Part I. The Interpretation of Dasein in Terms of Temporality, and the Explication of Time as the Transcendental Horizon for the Question of Being
Division 1. Preparatory Fundamental Analysis of Dasein

[Introduction]

"In the question about the meaning of Being, what is primarily interrogated is those entities which have the character of Dasein. The preparatory existential analytic of Dasein must, in accordance with its peculiar character, be expounded in outline, and distinguished from other kinds of investigation which seem to run parallel (Chapter 1.) Adhering to the procedure which we have fixed upon for starting our investigation, we must lay bare a fundamental structure in Dasein: Being-in-the-world (Chapter 2). In the interpretation of Dasein, this structure is something 'a priori'; it is not pieced together, but is primordially and constantly a whole. It affords us, however, various ways of looking at the items which are constitutive for it. The whole of this structure always comes first; but if we keep this constantly in view, these items, as phenomena, will be made to stand out. And thus we shall have as objects for analysis: the world in its worldhood (Chapter 3), Being-in-the-world as Being-with and Being-one's-Self (Chapter 4), and Being-in as such (Chapter 5). By analysis of this fundamental structure, the Being of Dasein can be indicated provisionally. Its existential meaning is care (Chapter 6)." (BT 65/40)

We must continue to keep before our minds just why Dasein is the best starting point for this investigation into the meaning or sense of being as such. Also, of note, is the fundamentally different orientation of his approach to the structure of Dasein. Human beings are to be understood fundamentally in terms of their being-in-the-world. Interestingly, Heidegger refers to this structure as something a priori and as that which "affords us... various ways of looking at the items which are constitutive for it." I am, personally, especially interested in this point--about how this structure causes or allows things (phenomena) in the world to "stand out". Finally, Heidegger will identify the structure of the being of Dasein as care, and that will serve as the launching point into Division Two.

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God is in this place,
And that reality, seen and understood by the grace of God in Christ Jesus through the work of the Holy Spirit, makes all the difference in the world.

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