Just a small bit of clarification..
"Dwelling is the manner in which mortals are on the earth". We are Dwellers. It can not be helped. To achomplish this we stay in place, we are at peace, to be preserved from harm and to be in ones own nature. That nature is described by the fourfold. The fourfold can not exist without mortals. We are the simple oneness of the four. The fourfold only exists through us, in us, we bring the oneness. (Like location/space/place and the bridge?)
"Dwelling itself is always a staying with things" Dwelling, as preserving, keps the fourfold in that which mortals stay - in things. Building cultivating, constructing, is how we preserve, how we keep it (the fourfold).
"But things themselves only secure the fourfold when they themselves AS things are let be in their own precensing"
To Dwell, according to Heidegger requires an involvement and engagement with place and contentment.. familiarity and caring for place.
His thoughts and ideas are an attempt to articulate a "Place of Being"
My question is would he argue that we succeed in this attempt in a modern world. Would Heidegger see how we have constructed our lives through technology, cities, livelihoods, culture, ect as preserving that fourfold? Or would he merit our constant struggle as evidence of not being able to exist in the manner/nature that we are meant to exist?
More later. I am going to miss my bus!
Is it truly a question of the way we are "meant to exist?" This seems a little moralistic. Is this quest to understand dwelling, or the construction of dwelling, an ethical one?
ReplyDeleteAlso, it seems that your own understanding of the "Four-fold" has evolved. Whereas before they seemed to be th external stimuli to which dwelling responded, now they seem to be the "internal" motivators to dwell. Is this the case? Either way, I still think that you need to outline each of the "Four-fold;" what is it? This is a time of brief analysis, where you should separate each component of the "Four-fold," define its particular characteristics, and link those characteristics to either motivation, or response. At that moment you will be very well equipped to synthesize these qualities or characteristics as a way of explaining "oneness;" which I am not sure means anything until you go through this process.
Do you need a break from Heidegger? Semper (in addition to the others that you are currently reading) would be a great expansion to your understand of dwelling both as act and object. Also, did you look at the Semperian components of architecture from before? If you do study these, it may help you to link the act of dwelling/the need to dwell, with its social/cultural/spatial response in architecture.