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On Heidegger's Time and Being
On Heidegger's Time and Being
Each field of knowledge falls within the domain of a particular being or group of
beings within the domain of the totality of Beings. Our interpretations or life
experiences with these beings before positivistic study and even in the present
now affect fundamentally the way we study and conceptualize these beings. Since
we have ignored the fact that we are now limited by the interpretations of Being
that we started with when our present bodies of knowledge were only
within the domain of the totality of beings affects the body of knowledge we
This turns out to be not quite true in relation to the sciences. As we will see later
even the fields of physics and mathematics are reshaping their fundamental
These "fundamental concepts" also referred to as "basic concepts" are the very
study and fields of knowledge. More accurately, Heidegger asserts that our
interpretation of the beings of our study ultimately comes before "all positive
some of the most stable or 'hardest' sciences -- mathematics, physics and biology.
The real "movement" of the sciences takes place in the revision of these basic
concepts [of Being], a revision which is more or less radical and lucid with regard to
itself. A science's level of development is determined by the extent to which it is
capable of a crisis in its basic concepts. In these immanent crises of the sciences
the relation of positive questioning to the matter in question becomes unstable.
Today tendencies to place research on new foundations have cropped up on all sides
in the various disciplines (pp. 50-51 his emphasis).
I discuss only Heidegger's biology example here. The very idea that the nature (or
biologists sought a new interpretation of life that would get "behind" vitalism and
mechanism as constitutive frameworks for definitions of life (pp. 51). What occurs
with another. It is as if the object of study changes with each new crisis.
could be more clear on what it is we study. In this way when we overturn one
theoretical framework with another we could perhaps add to the root of what we
held pre-scientifically and thus have a better picture than before not just a
At the same time these revolutions or crises in the sciences cited by Heidegger
show how vital the particular interpretation of the Being of a being of study can be
to the dynamism of the sciences or what he calls the real "movement" of the
study is the interpretation of the nature of being of the object of study through
life experience -- not theory. That which is prior to the conceptual frameworks of
intuition based on our prior knowledge via experiences is far more productive than
ordinary logic within the framework of theories (pp. 52). This sort of leaping
thought that says poeticizing can take you leaps and bounds beyond simple
primarily with the question of being and let go of the theory that constricts the
object of study. Heidegger holds up the example of Kant's Pure Reason and the
works of both Plato and Aristotle. These men were all 'leapers' who set the very
foundations of the sciences we now hold dear. These men leaped ahead to give us
the frameworks upon which we now only 'limp' along within the confines of logic.
This ontological intuitive poeticizing is prior to the ontic studies and is in fact their
precursor, but it is also a way to achieve the conditions of the ontological questions
themselves. The question of Being seeks not only to reach the possibility of
condition of the foundation of sciences, but also it seeks the foundation of the
Without seeking out and exploring the various possibilities of modes of Being
ontology has no real meaning or structure -- no "guideline" (pp. 52). Thus the
question of Being itself must guide ontology or it will lose its path. The ontological
The ontical priority of the question of Being involves Dasein as the being that
questions its own Being. As a being Dasein appears quite unique in that it is
concerned with Being at all let alone the question of its very Being. Thus it is
constitutive of the Being of Dasein that it questions its own Being. Part of
Dasein's existence involves its ontological nature of Being that questions its own
Being as well as seeking the constitutive Being of all other beings (pp. 53).
So here we have an interweaving of the ontic and the ontological priority of the
itself (pp. 54)." The understanding that Dasein has of itself through interpreting
Dasein is the ontological creature whose existence allows a seeking for the
Dasein itself is the basis on which the ontologies of the other beings are 'founded
and motivated'. This is the primacy of Dasein as the motivator of all the
ontologies of the totality of beings that are unlike Dasein. This is the ontic
priority of Dasein. That is, it is only through Dasein's study of other beings that
the unconcealedness of those other beings can be realized. Dasein is also in itself
of each Dasein. Only through this way of approaching the various fields of inquiry
will Dasein achieve a clear understanding of ontological questions. And only in this
way will Dasein get at the question of Being -- through the disclosedness of the
the question of Being must be dealt with before the ontological priority of the
existence must be made to clarify the question to then disclose that which in the
The search for the question of Being as shown above has ultimately been described
Dasein with a mind to the question of Being requires a disclosure of the most
the possibilities of its Being could quite likely scare away the very disclosure we
seek. The path that Heidegger recommends and indeed undertakes is to carefully
allow Dasein to reveal "itself to itself on its own terms" (pp. 59).
Being of beings through its life experiences. What better way to travel this path
than to seek out the attitudes elicited by these life experiences. Only after the
path of ontological analysis. This analysis of Dasein then is not interpretive but
merely discovery oriented first the disclosure then the interpretation of the
Thus Heidegger describes the goal of this first task as the "horizon for the most
original interpretation of Being" (pp. 60). This horizon is merely the discovery of a
range of the original interpretations of Being which must then be in turn analyzed
horizon.
Anxiety is a mood that will help disclose this first horizon, as it will reveal in part
our attitude in relation to the totality of beings. More specifically Heidegger sees
with its relation to the world and its attitude guides the pursuit of this relating to
the world. And especially in its scientific pursuits humanity guided by its attitude
"irrupts" into the whole of beings. What we must do to take explicit control of the
The relation to the world is always a relation to beings -- and nothing besides. All
part. He finds that although we are constantly concerned with beings we always
To Heidegger the question of the nothing is a question we have too long ignored.
In the past we have assumed a pat answer to the nothing and seen negation as
merely the product of the syntax of language. Heidegger sees a way to access the
nothing through the characteristics of Dasein's trinity of relation to the world,
attitudinal relation to the world that allows or guides its irruption into the domain
On this path to the nothing Heidegger recognizes and adds body to his reasons for
finding logical thought limited. In the face of the question of the nothing it
appears that there can be no logical way of analyzing it. Nothing is the absence of
word a question would be to view the nothing as having properties that it clearly
does not have. To ask about the nothing, (what is the nothing?) is to view it as a
being. Since we cannot grant the nothing the status of being we cannot even
phrasing the question of the nothing as a mere 'formal impossibility' -- not beyond
This definition which apparently flowed quite readily from Heidegger's pen is a
not unconcealed it yet. A proper place to start the analysis of the nothing is in our
If the nothing is the negation of the whole of beings then we must seek out the
whole of beings and thus negate it (pp. 98). Perhaps we could image the whole of
beings and thus negate this image but as Heidegger points out we can not
understand the whole of beings. Not only is the above an impossible task, we
cannot get outside of the whole of beings to operate its negation. Hence the only
experiential relation to the totality of beings and this is where Heidegger begins
to describe our various ways of being to the beings of the world. Not just any way
of being will do as we need understand our experiences with the whole of the
beings of the world not just in relation to specific beings which we are frequently
Feelings are the fundamental, and perhaps among the most original, ways we relate
to the world. Feelings are ways of attuning to beings (pp. 100). Heidegger seeks
the nothing in moods which bring Dasein into attunement with beings as a whole.
But of course when our attitudes of boredom or joy in the face of beings is evoked
the nothing is more concealed not less. We are distracted by the mood and at the
same time the mood may carry us far away from ideas of the nothing. What we
seek to disclose the nothing must be something more original than these moods
The fundamental mood of anxiety affects our relation with the whole of beings to
bring us in the face of the nothing. This anxiety is a "fear in the face of" which
does not lead a person to "lose their head" (pp. 100). Perspective is calm but "ill at
ease" the whole of beings begins to slip away. This mood is the nothing disclosed.
with beings in the slipping away of the whole. This anxiety is what Heidegger
claims is the original separation of beings from the nothing in experience of Dasein.
Within the original mood of anxiety is the discovery that beings are beings -- and
not nothing. Thus he asserts that the nothing is the source of negation and not
the reverse.
It is through anxiety that Dasein is able to grasp beings and even itself. This is
achieved through the experience of the nothing and the slipping away of beings in
to the nothing as 'being held out into the nothing'. This phrase is now adopted as a
As it holds itself into the nothing Dasein is 'beyond beings as a whole'. It is the
essence of Dasein that it transcends all beings. Dasein does this by holding itself
into the nothing. Without holding itself into the nothing Dasein would not have a
relation to any beings whatsoever -- even itself. The nothing allows beings to exist
original anxiety the unfolding of the nothing with the slipping away of beings would
not have been revealed to Dasein. It is to this disclosure of the nothing that
ontological and ontical priority that we can truly understand anxiety. Within the
exposition of the ontological and ontical priority Heidegger's new language unfolds