Being-in-the-world
a commentary on Heidegger's Being and time, division I
by Hubert L. Dreyfus · first published 1990
100% recommend
Being-in-the-World is a guide to one of the most influential philosophical works of this century: Division I of Part One of Being and Time, where Martin Heidegger works out an original and powerful account of being-in-the-world which he then uses to ground a profound critique of traditional ontology and epistemology. Hubert Dreyfus's commentary opens the way for a new appreciation of this difficult philosopher, revealing a rigorous and illuminating vocabulary that is indispensable for talking about the phenomenon of world.The publication of Being and Time in 1927 turned the academic world on i
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…familiar with Dreyfus's critique of "cognitivism" in AI, as explained in his book What Computers Can't Do. His recent article "Why Heideggerian AI Failed" is also relevant... and his book on Heidegger, Being-in-the-World, which has some philosophical background for his anti-cognitivism.
on “Why programming is a good medium for expressing poorly understood ideas (1967)” ↗Lately I've been going through Dreyfus's book about Heidegger's Being and Time, called Being-in-the-world, and I've found it majorly inspiring and wonderful. Now I rave about Heidegger to anybody who will listen, more or less coherently. Dreyfus has made important and influential critiques of "cognitivist"…
on “Ask HN: Do you read philosophy?” ↗…Maybe more. Heidegger at its core is an "antiplatonism of lived experience". I really can't recommend enough reading two very different interpretations of him, namely "Tool-being" by Graham Harman and "Being-in-the-world" by Hubert Dreyfus. Books are cheap. Get these. Most Netflix shows are bad. Read these books instead for two or three weeks.
on “Advice on Getting Better from an Accomplished Piano Player (2011)” ↗…cognitive access it gives you to the work your brain does when engaged in a task. (If you're interested and don't mind slogging through some tough writing, pick up the hardcover version and Dreyfus' Being-in-the-World and read them together. Reading a Wikipedia article or some other summary fails to deliver the same degree of low-level access.) I'll also mention Ayn Rand as someone who wrote inspiringly about the…
on “Articles, Ideas, Books and/or Concepts that have changed your life” ↗…beliefs derived from Cartesian views on the mind. He especially criticized the grand claims of early AI researchers, but I think the criticism is still easily applicable. Here, for example, from his book Being-in-the-world: > Having to program computers keeps one honest. There is no room for the armchair rationalist's speculations. Thus AI research has called the Cartesian cognitivist's bluff. It is easy to say that to…
on “Philosophy Has Made Plenty of Progress” ↗Naur's way of formulating that very closely resembles an argument presented by Hubert Dreyfus in his book Being-in-the-World. It's an interpretation of Heidegger, but it's very clear and "analytical." He's even got interesting stuff in there about artificial intelligence, and he influenced several AI researchers. There was…
on “Peter Naur – Programming as Theory Building (1985) [pdf]” ↗…to point to a wide-open new paradigm for further research. AI was unstuck again! And, in fact, Pengi was highly influential for a few years." 3. Dreyfus's book about his reading of Heidegger, called Being-in-the-world, and if one wishes, a recent movie of the same name. Here is one of my many highlighted passages from the book, which is flattering to computer scientists, but also might make you wonder if there is any…
on “What, exactly, do philosophers do?” ↗