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235ThreeTypesof VorhandenheitDAVID WEINBERGERThecategoryof Vorhandenheit' inHeidegger'sSein und Zeit(SZ)ismuch morepuzzlingthan itseems at first. OnfirstreadingitseemsthatZuhandenheitistheprimordial wayinwhichthingsare:theprimordialBeingof thingsis theirpresenceto us ashandytools withinthe context of ourprojectandtheworkshopcontext(thehammerisunderstood aspartof ourprojectsto build a house and withreferencetonails,lumberetc.)Vorhandenheit seems to benothingbut aprivativewayof Beingwhich we achieveby strippingZuhandene of their contextualmeaningso we can justgazeat themas if theywerenothingbutlumpsof matter,devoid of significance.Forsomethingtobecome vorhanden wemustceaseunreflectively usingit andmust in-steadstepback and reflect onitcognitively.If, however,weattemptto think throughthecategoryof Vorhandenheit(atask Heideggerdoes not makeeasyforus),wefindthat itis morecomplexandprimordialthan it seemedatfirstlook.In-deed,we shall find that Vorhandenheit in SZ is nota univocalterm;there are atleastthreedifferentmeaningsfor it.By examiningthesemeaningsandbyreflectingonthetypeof Vorhandenheitrequiredbythe text(althoughit is not clearthatHeideggerin SZwasalwaysex-plicitlyaware of thisneed),wewillfind a rootmeaningof Vorhandenheit. Ourinvestigationshouldshow whatis atstakein thequestionof Vorhandenheit:nothingless than SZ'sabilitytotalk 
 
236about realthingsasbeingmore than ourunderstandingof them.We willalso have to take issue withtwomaincontentions of thefirst-reading interpretation, namelythat Vorhandenheit is foundonlyby cognitionandthatZuhandenheitis theprimoridal wayinwhichnon-Daseinentities are.Againstthis weshallmaintain thattherearethreewaysin which Vorhandenheit is found and that the twocategoriesareequiprimordial (gleichursprünglich):the twocategoriescontain 'moments' of each other andHeideggerattimesseems tobeaware of this. If wearesuccessfulinresuscitatingVorhandenheit-if wecan showthat it is more than justfailedZuhandenheit-thegroundwill bepreparedforclearing upcertain difficultpassagesinSZ,forreadingcertain later worksof Heidegger'sin a newlight,andforaddressingwhatI take to be afundamentalproblemforpheno-menology :canphenomenology ontologicallyaccount for thepresencewithinDasein'shorizon of entities whichappeartobeontologicallyindependentof Dasein?Heideggertellsus what he meansbyZuhandenheit but he ismuchlessforthrightaboutthemeaningof Vorhandenheit. Hebegins bytell-ingus that the "existentiaontologicallyis tantamoutto Vorhanden-sein,a kind of Beingwhich does not befit entities of Dasein'scharacter"(42).2InDieGrundproblemederPhdnomenologieheagainrefers us to theSchoolmen'snotion of existentiaandaddsthatVorhandenheit "is the title for thewayof Beingof naturalthingsinthe widest sense".' This refers us to ahistoryof thoughtwhich has notbeen ablecompletely ontologicallytoclarifywhat 'existentia'means:"Becauseasyettheontological problematicof Beinghas beenpri-marilyunderstoodinthe sense of Vorhandenheit('reality','world'-actuality),but theBeingof Dasein has remainedontologicallyundetermined..."(183)/ BecauseBeingis tobeunderstoodbyin-vestigatingDasein,the traditionalunderstandingof BeingasVorhandenheit isinadequate.Thus,whenHeidegger explainsVorhandenheitbyreferringustoexistentia,he is notenlighteningthematter much.If wewant toprogress pastthisreference toatraditionallyunclearcategory,we turn toHeidegger'sdiscussions of how Vorhandenheit isdisclosed.He discusses at leastthreeways:through cognition,unusabilityandanxiety (Angst).He does not seem to realize that theVorhandenheit disclosed in these variouswaysis not in fact the same.Indeed,theyareincompatible.Let usexaminethem.1)Hefirst discusses Vorhandenheitas thetypeof Beingrevealedbycognitionorknowing (weshalluse either term to translateErkenntnis). Knowing, Heideggertellsus,is"groundedbeforehandin
 
237aBeing-already-alongside-the-worldwhichessentiallyconstitutesDa-sein'sBeing"Hegoeson tosay:Becauseof this kind of Beingtowards the world which letsus encounter entities encounteredwithin-the-worldpurelyinthewaytheylook (eidos)...anexpresslook atwhat isthus encountered ispossible. Looking at somethinginthiswayis sometimesadeterminatetakingupof adirectiontowardssomething,analigningof oursightingof theVorhanden .... Inthiskindof "dwelling"as aholding-oneself-back fromanymanipulationorutilization,theperceptionof the Vorhanden comestopass. (61-2)6Thisperceptionis itself awayof Being-in-the-world(62). Cognitionisstill awayinwhichweareinthe world andis not a neutralwayof get-tingaccess to"things-in-themselves" .Itis forthisreason thatHeideggercan write thatZuhandenheit is not be understood asmerelyawayof tak-ingthem,asif such'aspects'were read into the 'entities'whichweproximallyencounter,as if some world-stuff which isproximallyvorhanden in itself weregiven subjec-tivecoloring'in thisway.Such aninterpretationwouldoverlook thefact thatfor this to be the case these entitieswould have tobeunderstood and discovered beforehandassomething purelyvorhanden,andmust havepriorityandtakethe lead in thesequenceof thosedealingswith the'world' inwhichsomethingis discovered and made one'sown. But thisalreadyruns counter to theontologicalmeaningof cognitionwhich wehaveexhibitedas afoundedmodeof Being-in-the-world.(71)'Thissupportstheidea that allYorhandenheit isthesort foundbycognition.We can seethisif weputtheargument slightlymore for-mally :(i) Cognitionis afoundedmode of Being-in-the-world.(ii)Cognitiondiscloses anddiscoversthe Vorhanden.(iii)We canonly givean'entity' 'subjective coloring'if wehavealreadydisclosedit asvorhanden.(iv)But,becausethe Vorhanden is disclosed anddiscoveredby cognition,andbecausecognitionis a foun-dedmode,we donot first(i.e., 'already')have 'entities'vorhanden.(v)Therefore wedo notconstitute theZuhandenbythrow-
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