Tradition, Being, and Metaphor

There is a tradition in Western Philosophy that goes like this:

1) The world makes sense, and we can have knowledge of it.
2) Each thing is a kind of thing.
3) Each thing is a kind of thing with an essence, a set of properties, that make it the kind of thing it is.
4) There is a category, sometimes called Being, that contains everything that exists.

One way to look at this tradition is that it is a foundation for science and philosophy, a foundation hardly to be questioned.

Another way to look at this is that it is a metaphor. Being is a giant mixing bowl or stew pot that contains all the ingredients of the universe. Philosophy, like all thinking, is shot through with metaphor, so it is not a criticism of the tradition to call it a metaphor. What matters is whether the metaphor is apt, and in many cases the traditional metaphor is apt.

Yet another way to look at Being is the way Heidegger looks at it, something separate from the tradition, something more primary and immediate in our lives, thinking, and language.

I have decided to read the whole of “Being and Time”. I’m excited.