Being and Dasein in Heidegger

A Tract Book Essay

By

Anthony J. Fejfar, J.D., Esq., Coif

© Copyright 2007 by Anthony J. Fejfar

In “Being and Time” philosopher Martin Heidegger discusses

Being and Dasein. Dasein is defined as “Being-in-the-world.” Heidegger

spends a great deal of time exploring the question of Being and ends up

arguing that Being is best known through a phenomenological analyis of

Dasein.

I argue, on the other hand, that Being is best known through

Intuition. Philosophical Intuition intuits Being in a direct ontological

fashion. So, I argue, based on Intuition, and Plato, that Being is “Form of

Form,” or, as Jesuit Philosopher Bernard Lonergan puts it, Being is an

“Unrestricted Act of Undertanding.”

Once we have come to an understanding of Being, ontologically,

based upon Intuition, then we can discuss Dasein, or Being-in-the-World, as

does Heidegger. As Heidegger points out, Dasein involves a certain

“thrownness” of Being into the World. When Being is “thrown” into the

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World the result is a kind of Authenticity. Authenticity involves Rational

Self Interest, Autonomy, and Self-Actualization. Authenticity is at once

selfish, but at the same time involves giving or, as Heidegger calls it, care.

The authentic person has his own projects, but those projects help others,

either directly or indirectly. Being, then, and Dasein, moves us toward

Justice and Social Justice.

Bibliography

Heidegger, Martin, Being and Time (1926).

Maslow, Abraham, Maslow on Management (1998).

Lonergan, Bernard, Insight (1956).