Casting Light: Being & Time pt. 2/2
The Equipment
One more, go with me on this one:
Soon arrives the 5th anniversary of my 100 days of solo travel. I’ll speak more on that soon enough, but the year after that (in 2018), I wrote another book (attempted, really) matching the exact timeline of that travel that, in contrast, I wrote mostly in one place: Old Towne Orange.
In this attempted book, I wanted to explore a philosophical milestone, Heidegger’s Being and Time, a book known for its difficulty and influence around the question of what does it mean to be?
In preparation of celebrating my travel stories, I want to share two days of this attempted book where I found “understanding” of that travel. I want to share them because:
- I think the practice of philosophy (e.g. questioning) is a healthy, powerful thing
- I love it
I offer these ideas and questions as a quick way to enhance or reframe the coming experiences.
I do hope you enjoy.
Friday, October 5th, Day 16 — Orange, CA
P. 97 — Everydayness draws attention to what is around us, our environment. This places an emphasis on things. To call something a thing is to focus on its pragmatic ontology, and thus we will go about calling them by the term equipment. The footnote breaks this down to also include the sense “gear”, but already there is a strong meaning that this is something used for something, or even added to something for the sake of a task.
This corresponds directly with PRONTO’s mission.
P. 97–98 “These ‘Things’ never show themselves proximally as they are for themselves, so as to add up to a sum of realia and fill up a room… and we encounter it not as something ‘between four walls’ in a geometric spatial sense, but as equipment for residing.”
To to take this fully, this would change how we see houses, at least places in general. The question should be “what does this place help me do?” as we change our environments. When I was traveling, the question was “will this place help me sleep? Eat? What will I enjoy here?”
Living in Old Towne, I’ve had this thought for a while. The house I’m renting is a little over 100 years old. I am, therefore, certainly not the first person here. Others have rented this house before me. What brings people here? Proximity to the plaza, the freeways, etc. Apart from being a nice, little home, it also helps us. This house is a tool in my life right now. It helps me live close to work and to a place where I can be social.
This quality of “it helps me” seems to be what Heidegger calls the “in-order-to” which is a characteristic of a thing that helps us interact with its ownmost quality: dwelling inside of a house. For Heidegger, it is the hammering of a hammer.
P. 98 — “The hammering itself uncovers the specific ‘manipulability’ of the hammer. The kind of Being which equipment possesses- in which it manifests itself in its own right- we call “readiness-to-hand.” This quality is essential to the thing as it helps produce the work, or the possible outcome of application of that tool or equipment.
To throw out a loose question now, what is, then, the difference between a tool and a game?
More soon,
Trevor