Substance seems to Dreyfus to be something we must disengage from in order to think about. Hence we lose that initial engagement in the world. To talk of substance, therefore, is to instrumentalize one's world and to constitute dualities (such as inner/outer) that divorce us from being.
I propose that substance is best understood by reflecting on a word that Aristotle was fond of using: entelecheia (a word that conveys how something is continuously acting for a goal--a goal not extrinsic to its own activity but rather is for the sake of being active). Entelecheia is a philosophical world used to describe how we act when engaged in the world. Yet Arisotle uses it to describe substances. The prime instance of substance, therefore, is a human being practically engaged. Not a flat substratum thing, but a striver. One who (on a good day) seeks to be fully alive.
I propose that substance is best understood by reflecting on a word that Aristotle was fond of using: entelecheia (a word that conveys how something is continuously acting for a goal--a goal not extrinsic to its own activity but rather is for the sake of being active). Entelecheia is a philosophical world used to describe how we act when engaged in the world. Yet Arisotle uses it to describe substances. The prime instance of substance, therefore, is a human being practically engaged. Not a flat substratum thing, but a striver. One who (on a good day) seeks to be fully alive.
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