That is why it is the pinnacle, occupies the first place, and has the μάλιστα ἀληθεύειν.
The task is now to understand, on the basis of Dasein itself, the γένεσις of this highest possibility of human Dasein. As regards method, let us make the following remark.5 Ἀληθεύειν is a mode of Being of Dasein, and specifically insofar as Dasein comports itself to a being, to the world, or to itself. The being which in the Greek understanding is genuine Being is the world, the ἀεί. Because an occupation with something is determined in its Being by the "through which," the modes of Being of Dasein must be interpreted on the basis of Dasein's comportment to the respective objects.
§11. The first three levels of εἰδέναι: αἴσθησις,
ἐμπειρία, τέχνη (Met. I, 1).
a) Αἴσθησις. The priority of ὁρᾶν. Ἀκούειν as a
condition of learning. Μνήμη and φρόνησις.
We know from our previous considerations that what is at issue in σοφία is only an orientation of Dasein toward uncoveredness and visibility. Because σοφία is determined as pure θεωρεῖν, Aristotle proceeds in the first sentence of the Metaphysics from this Dasein: πάντες ἄνθρωποι τοῦ εἰδέναι ὀρέγονται φύσει (Met. I, 1, 980a1f.). "All human beings have an inherent striving to see." "Seeing," perception in the broadest sense, is part of Dasein; indeed still more: Dasein includes an ὄρεξις, a being out to see, a being out to get acquainted with things. σημεῖον δ᾽ ἡ τῶν αἰσθήσεων ἀγάπησις (a1f.). "A sign of this is the predilection we have for looking, for sense perception." In connection with εἰδέναι, as that to which human Dasein aspires, Aristotle places a priority on one mode of αἴσθησις above all others, namely seeing. We prefer seeing, ὁρᾶν, to all the other senses. The governing point of view here is the possibility of experiencing something about the world through a particular sense, i.e., the extent to which the beings of the world are disclosed through that sense. αἴτιον δ᾽ ὅτι μάλιστα ποιεῖ γνωρίζειν ἡμᾶς αὕτη τῶν αἰσθήσεων καὶ πολλὰς δηλοῖ διαφοράς (a26f.). Δηλοῦν here means to let be seen, to make manifest. Seeing is thus preeminent among the senses in that "it lets many differences be seen"; seeing provides the greatest possibility of differentiating the things in their manifoldness and orienting oneself within them. This privileged position of ὁρᾶν is all the more remarkable in view of Aristotle's emphasis (b23) that ἀκούειν is the highest αἴσθησις. But that is not a contradiction. Hearing is basic to the constitution of man, the one who speaks.
5. Cf. the comments on method on p. 43.