Thematizing and objectivity

From Being and Time:

Every science is constituted primarily by thematizing. That which is familiar pre-scientifically in Dasein as disclosed Being-in-the-world, gets projected upon the Being which is specific to it. With this projection, the realm of entities is bounded off. The ways of access to them get ‘managed’ methodologically, and the conceptual structure for interpreting them is outlined.

 

…the Objectivity of a science is regulated primarily in terms of whether that science can confront us with the entity which belongs to it as its theme, and can bring it, uncovered in the primordiality of its Being, to our understanding.

To understand a subject is to understand  objects as the subject understands them, according to that subject’s thematization, which means accessing the subject’s entities by that subject’s methods, and understanding according to that subject’s conceptual structure. This holds true equally for an academic subject as it does for an entity possessing subjectivity.

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“Theme”, “thesis” and the root -thesis are etymologically descended from the Greek word tithenai “to set or place.” Synthesis means “place together”.

The root -ject comes from the Greek work jacere “throw.” A project is “thrown ahead”. An object is “thrown in the way of”. A subject is “thrown under”.

Method is made up of meta- “above” and -hod “way”. (I like thinking of method as a meta-way.)

Concept is made up of con- “together” and –capere “take”. (Consider the contrasting meanings of concept and synthesis.)

According to Online Etymology Dictionary the etymology of “interpret” is inter- “between” and some other root of unknown origin. Maybe interpreting is a generic mediating of any two separated entities.

Speaking of “mediating” — “mediate”, “medium” and “media” all come from medius “middle”.

“Regulate” comes from regula “rule” – to “control by rules”. Something that is regular is behaves according to rules.

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When we understand a subject, we throw something under a situation upon which the entities thrown before us can stand and be placed together in such a way that we can take it together as a whole.

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