[Xmca-l] Re: German experts: erlibnis vs. befindlichkeit?

Ed Wall ewall@umich.edu
Sat Mar 29 14:21:37 PDT 2014


Greg

     Apologies for the name mistake.

Ed

> Geoff
> 
>     Inwood spends a bit of time (around page 62 in A Heidegger Dictionary) discussing Heidegger's thinking about erlibnis (he says among other things that Heidegger was wary of the term and used it to somewhat suggest 'experience,' but that Heidegger saw it as expressing an inner event intrinsically detached both from the body and the external world). Befindlichkeit (Inwood is reasonable here also), on the other hand and for Heidegger, refers to 'being in a mood' or 'how we sense ourselves' (it is a bit more complicated than this for Heidegger). To regard moods as experiences, for Heidegger, ignores the way in which they disclose Dasein and the World.
> 
>     I, by the way, know quite a bit more Heidegger than German (smile).
> 
> Ed

On Mar 29, 2014, at  3:34 PM, Greg Thompson wrote:

> Trying to figure out the main differences between erlebnis and
> befindlichkeit. Anyone?
> 
> My question stems from the fact that in the marxists.org version of
> Vygotsky's The Problem of the Environment, the editor (Andy?) notes:
> "The Russian term *perezhivanie *serves to express the idea that one and
> the same objective situation may be interpreted, perceived, experienced or
> lived through by different children in different ways. Neither 'emotional
> experience' (which is used here and which only covers the affective aspect
> of the meaning of *perezhivanie*), nor 'interpretation' (which is too
> exclusively rational) are fully adequate translations of the noun. Its
> meaning is closely linked to that of the German verb 'erleben' (cf.
> 'Erlebnis', 'erlebte Wirklichkeit')."
> 
> Having some very minimal familiarity with the German term Befindlichkeit
> (my source: http://www.focusing.org/gendlin_befindlichkeit.html), I was
> wondering what kinds of differences exist between these terms. (part of the
> interest here is in Vygotsky-Heidegger connections - befindlichkeit was a
> central term for Heidegger).
> 
> Seems like erlebnis would be more of the romantic tradition (pace Dilthey)
> and might therefore be the more likely term for Vygotsky's perezhivanie to
> map onto, but just wondering about if there is more to this link.
> 
> Any info much appreciated.
> -greg
> 
> -- 
> Gregory A. Thompson, Ph.D.
> Assistant Professor
> Department of Anthropology
> 883 Spencer W. Kimball Tower
> Brigham Young University
> Provo, UT 84602
> http://byu.academia.edu/GregoryThompson




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