STEPWISE UNFOLDING OF PERCEIVING IN ALL ITS CONNECTIONS


Ναί.

Τί δέ; καλὸν καὶ αἰσχρὸν καὶ ἀγαθὸν καὶ κακόν;

Καὶ τούτων μοι δοκεῖ ἐν τοῖς μάλιστα πρὸς ἄλληλα σκοπεῖσθαι τὴν οὐσίαν, ἀναλογιζομένη ἐν ἑαυτῇ τὰ γεγονότα καὶ τὰ παρόντα πρὸς τὰ μέλλοντα.


'[There is contained in authentic striving] being -similar and being-dissimilar, being-the-same and being-different?'

'Yes.'

'And what about being-beautiful and being-ugly, being-good and being-bad?'

'It [the soul] also appears to view the being of these, especially in their relations to one another, reckoning, within and for itself, upon the past and present in relation to the future/


What is being spoken of here? In order to aid our understanding of the third step, we shall begin with a mere outward enumeration.

a. The previously indicated excess is expanded. Being is there in the striving - not only in being-similar and being-dissimilar, being-the-same and being-different, but now also in being-beautiful and being-ugly, being-good and being-bad. In these cases too the soul has its relationship to being.

b. This relationship to being is now expressed through σκοπεῖσθαι, taking-in-view, perceiving.

c. This perceiving is interpreted in a particular way: it is an ἀναλογιζεσθαι, a reckoning back and forth.

d. This reckoning reckons with the past, present, and future - thus with time.

We do not think of an exhaustive treatment of everything mentioned here, but must restrict ourselves to an elucidation within the framework of our guiding task, only so far as enables us to see the extent to which the relationship of the soul to being (i.e. striving for being) receives a more determinate conception. For to arrive at such is indeed the task of the third step.


a) More Essential Unfolding of the Determinations of Being in Attunedness

Firstly then the new expansion of the excess. It is precisely from this expansion that we can clarify the previous excess in its specific peculiarity. What is the situation in regard to this previous excess? In the perception of colour, sound, and the like, there is a co-perceiving of being, being-different, being-the-same, being-similar, being-dissimilar. What


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Martin Heidegger (GA 34) The Essence of Truth