PHIL304: Existentialism

6a. Describe how Martin Heidegger's early years influenced his philosophical thinking

• What is phenomenology?
• How did the phenomenological method influence Heidegger's work?
• What makes phenomenological investigation hermeneutical?
• What is the ontological "question of being"?

The German thinker Martin Heidegger (1889–1976) turned his attention to philosophy after initially studying for the priesthood. Heidegger studied phenomenology, the philosophical study of how objects and ideas manifest in consciousness. The phenomenological method involves asking questions related to a first-person perspective. Heidegger applied the phenomenological approach to questions of being.
 
Like other philosophers we call existentialists, Heidegger focused on human existence, anxiety, death, and authenticity – themes his predecessors (Kierkegaard, Dostoevsky, and Nietzsche) and contemporaries (Sartre and Camus) shared.
 
Heidegger believed that phenomenological studies of being were always hermeneutical. This means that these philosophers used the same theories and methods to study and interpret texts, starting with the Bible, to study what something means. Heidegger believed that all phenomenological investigations about being are interpretive. The intentional nature of consciousness focuses interpretation on one aspect of being, as it closes off other aspects.
 
To review, see Martin Heidegger.
 

6b. Explain what Heidegger means by the ontological "question of being"

• What is the question of being?
• What does Heidegger call an Inquiry into Being?

Heidegger notes that only humans ask the question, "why is there something rather than nothing?" This describes Dasein, the German word for "being there" or disposition. Heidegger said, "we are the beings for whom Being is an issue". In our daily lives, we take existence for granted; it is the natural backdrop for everything that happens. Heidegger wants to bring this background to the fore and engage in the inquiry known as ontology (what it means to exist).
 
When we say something exists (let's say a dog or table), we typically mean an object exists that corresponds to the words "dog" and "table". We may say other things about these items, such as the dog is friendly or the table has four legs. However, when we say they exist, we are not adding anything that is not already there. We take existence for granted and go about our business. Heidegger wants us to focus on what it means for the dog and table to be or exist.
 
Being can be difficult to discern:

1. Tradition may cover it up or obfuscate it,
2. It may be difficult to focus on, such as when it is too close to see properly, or
3. It may be in "disguise", such as when it is too distressing to confront directly.

Heidegger says Western philosophy falls victim to one or all of these types of concealment. Previous interpretations, such as Plato's theory of a soul imprisoned in a body, or René Descartes' proclamation "I think, therefore I am" (the cogito), are inadequate. The question of being is a phenomenological question that requires interpretation.
 
To review, see More on Heidegger and Martin Heidegger's Life and Works.
 

6c. Summarize Heidegger's critique of Descartes

• What are René Descartes' beliefs about existence?
• How does Heidegger critique Descartes' dualism?

René Descartes believed that God endowed humans with certain innate knowledge from birth, including logic, mathematics, geometry, morality, and God himself, who must exist because we can conceive of his perfect existence. The concept of the self and our ability to think is also innate, a belief that led Descartes to make his famous statement, "I think therefore I am" (the cogito, ergo sum).
 
Descartes' concept of existence was two-fold: There are two types of finite substances: the mind and the body. The mind is fundamental; I can exist as a "thinking thing" without my body, but I cannot deny my existence without existing, so I am able to make that denial. More specifically, denial is an expression of my self-consciousness. So, to deny my existence as a thinking thing is self-contradictory.
 
In Being and Time, Heidegger sets out to "destroy" the tradition that Descartes exemplified in Western philosophy by prioritizing the theoretical knowledge of being. Heidegger criticized Descartes' approach as being too subjective: the process of arriving at the certainty of myself (as a thinking entity) involves a first-person examination. Heidegger believed Descartes does not get at Being, which always depends on context.
 
To review, see Being and Time, The Lead-Up, and Two Introductions and Heidegger and Descartes.
 

6d. Identify the different existential categories Heidegger proposes in Being and Time

• What is Dasein?
• Is Dasein related to Descartes' "I think, therefore I am?"
• What is the difference between Being and beings?

Translated from German to mean "being there", Dasein is the characteristic way of being for human beings. More specifically, "Dasein is that being for whom Being is an issue". We are aware of our lives; we care about how things are going and will go. Consequently, Dasein's Being is already "disclosed to it". Dasein understands (or is always open to) its own Being.
 
Do not confuse Dasein with Descartes' proclamation, "I think therefore I am", separated off from the world. Instead, Dasein, Being-in-the-world, is a Being with others. Being with is an existential category, one of Dasein's characteristics. So, because Dasein is Being-in-the-world, which involves a complex set of relations and activities, we cannot separate it from the "mind" or "I".
 
Investigating Dasein brings us closer to addressing the larger question of the meaning of Being. Dasein's Being is already "out in the open". Dasein understands its existence, albeit not comprehensively. That is because this understanding is based on its everydayness, which conceals as much as it discloses. An analysis of Dasein's basic structures provides the foundation for any ontology and for Being. This analysis is existential because it analyzes Dasein's essence, which is existence.
 
The existential analysis of Dasein is a pursuit of the fundamental categories of Being. The categories of existence are existential (that is, existential concepts). To begin, Dasein is essentially in the world. Dasein is not understood independently from its world; the world is where Dasein is ("being there"). Being in the world, the fundamental category of existence, has been concealed, or covered over, by philosophical tradition, which treats Being as a category distinct from what it is to be human. Being in the world is prior to, or more basic than, for example, claims about knowing what I am, fundamentally, as, for example, Descartes would have it.
 
To review, see Heidegger on Authenticity and Inauthenticity and "Sense" in Being and Time.
 

6e. Describe key concepts in Heidegger's philosophy of existence

• How does Heidegger define the concepts of mood, disposedness, care, thrownness, projection, fallenness, facticity, authenticity, and Being-toward-death?

Dasein is never without mood – we might say we never just are, but we are always a certain way. Disposedness describes Dasein's receptivity to having things matter, to care. As Roderick Munday points out, "Dasein's Being is always looking out toward the world and is therefore essentially manifested in care". Dasein is "thrown" into the world: we can say we did not choose to be born, but here we are.

In short, Dasein is determined by its thrownness. In this or that situation, however, Dasein finds possibilities for acting; these possibilities provide the fore-structures of projection or freedom.
 
Insofar as Dasein projects itself, it is always Being-ahead-of-itself. So, while Dasein's thrownness is part of its facticity (the facts about it), it is also dynamic. A possibility not actualized is just as much of Dasein's structural component as the one that is.
 
Both thrownness and projection are two of the three dimensions of care. The third is fallenness. "Dasein has, in the first instance, fallen away from itself as an authentic potentiality for Being its Self, and has fallen into the world", which is manifested in a lack of critically-examined discourse (idle talk), superficial or novel stimulation (curiosity), and insensitivity to the distinction between understanding and mere chatter (ambiguity). In this way, Dasein is inauthentic. Authentic Dasein is my own, or mine. It is a "my-self", rather than a "they-self". The latter is constitutive of Dasein's existence, so authenticity becomes a way of relating to others without being lost to them.
 
"[A]lthough Dasein cannot experience its own death as actual, it can relate toward its own death as a possibility that is always before it", its Being toward death. It is a possibility that can never be actualized (again, there is no way to experience one's own death), so death is always only a possibility.
 
To review, see Heidegger's Notion of Care.
 

6f. Compare Heidegger with his predecessors, particularly Friedrich Nietzsche and Søren Kierkegaard

• Describe a thematic comparison between Heidegger and Nietzsche.
• Describe a thematic comparison between Heidegger and Kierkegaard.

Heidegger's early work reflects a positive view of Nietzsche's concept of the will. However, his later work takes a significant turn. Heidegger shows in Being and Time that Dasein's will is an important part of its temporal experience, especially when he talks about Dasein's realization of its own death. Later, however, Heidegger believes Nietzsche's concepts of the will to power, truth, and the eternal recurrence of the same are co-extensive, or reflect elements of traditional Western metaphysics, which Heidegger rejects.
 
For example, if you decide to become a spouse, you may accept certain traditional aspects of the role you are thrown into (the particular role different societies dictate for you), or you can create your own social persona or change your role altogether if you wish. But it is still just a role. "It is never really you." What is essential about you is that "you can take a stand on your own being".
 
Kierkegaard believed that the person you are is based on any unconditional commitment you have, such as your love or commitment for another, be it another person, a group of people, or God. The temporal is easy – you are living in time, and you can reinterpret its meaning throughout your life – but the moment you profess an unconditional commitment, you create your own identity for life. The unconditional commitment you choose provides existential meaning and is eternal.
 
For Kierkegaard, one's unwavering devotion to God gives you a sense of who you are and is the highest stage of the self, which is linked to religion. The ethical self is the second highest, while the aesthetic self is the lowest. In some respects, Kierkegaard's aesthete is similar to Heidegger's condition of fallenness.
 
To review, see Anti-Modernism and Discourses of Melancholy.
 

Unit 6 Vocabulary

Be sure you understand these terms as you study for the final exam. Try to think of the reason why each term is included.

• authentic Dasein
• Being
• Being-in-the-world
• Being and Time
• Being toward death
• care
• co-extensive
• Dasein
• disposedness
• facticity
• fallenness
• Martin Heidegger
• mood
• ontology
• phenomenology
• projection
• thrownness
• unconditional commitment