MARTIN HEIDEGGER

Heidegger is known as an existentialist, but his main goal is to establish his

ontology. He gives existentialist account which leads him to his metaphysical
reality ‘being’. Heidegger is influenced by Husserl’s phenomenology and, thus,
he also accepts this method. But in Husserl’s scheme the phenomenological
method and pure phenomenon are so connected that the latter becomes the
part of the former. On the other hand, in Heidegger’s scheme phenomenological
method and being which is the reality are independent. He holds that one can
have a look of ‘being’ while one is using the method. In the phenomenological
method Heidegger explains the nature of human existence. His over emphasis
on the analysis of human existence, its dimension and its constituents lead one
to think that he is an existentialist. He has discussed his existentialism in his book
Being and Time and Sein and zeit.

Being and Beings:

Heidegger makes a distinction between ‘being’ and ‘beings’. For ontological

‘being’, Heidegger use the word ‘sein’ and for ‘beings’ he uses the word
‘seiendes’. The former stands for metaphysical reality, whereas the latter stands
for existent realities. Further, he uses capital letter ‘B’ for metaphysical reality
and for existent realities he uses the small letter ‘b’. Heidegger points out that
the objects of our empirical and scientific knowledge are beings while the
ultimate goal of philosophical investigation is the understanding of the ‘Being’.
Statements concerning being are called ontological while statements
concerning existent realities are called optical. Ontological statements describe
reflections of metaphysical reality ‘being’ while ontical statements describe how
something is related to other common realities. Heidegger points out that in
every ontical statement some ontological meaning is contained. Thus, if we
catch ontological meaning in ontical statements then that will be an ontological
investigation. And fin this investigation we can know about ontological being.

Dasein:

Dasein literally means ‘being there’, but In Heidegger’s context this means ‘man
being there’. This is the reason why dasein stands for ‘human existence’.
According to Heidegger dasein is the way to reach the ontological reality ‘Being’.
Heidegger makes it clear that his investigation is not like Plato who holds idea to
be the reality and this world to be appearance. Heidegger accepts the existence
of this world to be real. Then he goes on saying that the human existence is the
window to see the being. This can be said that according to Heidegger the
descriptions of the dimensions of human existence is to understand the
possibilities of man, and in these possibilities, we become aware of ‘being’ the
reality, these contain the understanding of being. One important dimension of
human existence is that only man can ask the question about reality. Only man
feels concern about being. Heidegger points out that man can ignore this
question and some of them do ignore this question. But in such case the life of
man becomes inauthentic, because in such case a man ignores his most
important distinction. Only man is conscious about the ‘being’. Only he is
existent with the consciousness of his existence. The human life which ignores
such consciousness, says Heidegger, is not living an authentic life. The question
is as to what does Heidegger mean by human existence? He holds that there are
two aspects of human life. In one form he is existent as other things are existent
in the world. As a mountain is existent, a tree is existent, so a man is existent.
But human existence in its other form is that he s existent with the
consciousness of his existence. And just because of this that he is distinct from
other existent things. This is the distinction of human existence. Again, the world
in which man exists is used by Heidegger in specific sense. The world of
Heidegger is not the scientific objective world where objects and living beings
live. The world is not like a box where things are contained. When he talks about
human existence in the world he means by this human world, the world with
which man is related from practical point of view. He is not a neutral spectator
of the world, he is living in the world, and thus his world is shaped as per his
planning. Man exists in the world in his various dimensions. Brief descriptions of
such dimensions may be explained as under.

Care or Concern:

Heidegger has used the word ‘sorge ‘for care or concern. Man is related to the
world with a care and concern with a purpose. Heidegger points out that since
man is related to the world with this care that he has the experience of his own
existence. Man being existent means his concern with unknown. Man’s
existence is developed as per the concern and attachment towards things and
beings of the world. Thus, the meaning of a man being in the world means his
being in the world with this care and concern. It is on account of this that a man
is not in the world as a mountain is there in the world.

The World as Potentialities:

Man exists in the world with a feeling that the things of the world can be molded
according to his needs. He can think that things of the world can be helpful to
him or they can be obstacle to him. With this experience he relates himself to
them. This means that things of the world appear to him as possibilities which
he can use as per his needs. This is also known as readiness in hand. For example,
a hammer is not only a thing in the world for him rather whenever he relates
himself to hammer then he will see in it its different uses. He sees that this can
be used to hurt some one’s head or to make a table out of pieces of woods and
so on. This way the world appears to man as an equipment.

Living Ahead:

This is another dimension of man’s existence that he lives ahead. His all
plannings are related to the future. Heidegger provides ontological status to this
dimension of man. Possibilities are not only expressed in the present, but they
are also expressed in the future. Futures possibilities also determine the nature
of human existence.

Understanding:

According to Heidegger another dimension of human existence in the world is

known as understanding. He uses the word understanding in it wider sense.
Normally it is used as a cognitive process but for Heidegger the term includes all
kinds of relations of man to the world and also man’s attitude towards things of
the world. There are two elements of understanding. First, it is related to the
possibilities of the world. There is understanding that the things of the world are
mere equipments. Second, it is in understanding that things of the world
become meaningful. Things of the world are not meaningful by themselves.
Their meaning is determined as per its use by human beings. Thus,
understanding projects meaning in every contact with thing.
Apprehension of Nothingness:

Nothingness plays very significant role in Heidegger scheme. He holds that

nothingness is contained in the idea of being. This becomes an essential element
for being. He points out that without accepting nothingness one can not have
the experience of his being. For Heidegger the concept nothingness is very rich.
This is not mere negation. Rather this becomes the medium to experience being.
The reflection of being is possible in human existence only because there is the
meeting of both nothingness and, being. Let us understand the whole situation
like this. Suppose things of the world become unchangeable, imperishable and
human beings are without any disease, then, perhaps, there will be no reason
to incline towards being. But the impermanence of things mortality of human
beings becomes the cause to think of the being. We start thinking that there
must be something which is not perishable. This experience of nothingness is
found only in man, thus, only man can have the experience of being. The
understanding of nothingness makes human life mysterious.

Authenticity and Inauthenticity:

Man lives in the world, but he lives there with a distinction. He is conscious of
the fact that he lives in the world independently in his distinction and in his
humanness. In this unique state the basis of his authentic and inauthentic life is
contained. It is possible that a man can live in his distinction and then he
becomes a man of the world. He may make himself like physical objects and
makes himself only the element of the world. He forgets his distinction and
humanness and reduces himself to the world. This life of a man becomes
inauthentic. On the contrary, it is also possible that a man does not leave his
distinctions, nor does he reduce himself to the world. He maintains his own
distinctions. This state of a man is his authentic life. In no case he is ready to lose
his humanity and distinctions. Related to man’s existence there are some
suspicious happenings with which man becomes fearful and in order to escape
such happenings he ultimately surrenders and gets himself totally identified and
makes compromises with things and beings of the world and loses his
distinctions. This is the inauthentic state of human being.

Constitutive Features of Desein:

The peculiar task of Heidegger’s phenomenological ontology is that of a
delineation of the constitutive features of Dasein, who has been defined as
concern. The three foundational features of Dasein are factuality, existentiality
and fallenness.

The factuality of Dasein characterizes man’s naked ‘thereness’- his

abandonment or ‘thrownness’. As he discloses himself in the various concerns
of his being in the world, man finds that he has been thrown in a world without
consultation and abandoned to the chance factors which have already
constituted him. He discovers himself as already brought into being, a fact
among facts, part of a growing concern, involved in situations which he has not
created and in which he must remain as long as he is. In Heidegger’s analysis of
factuality, we can anticipate the significance of temporality as the final
ontological meaning of concern. Factuality expresses primarily the directionality
of pastness. Dasein reveals himself as already being-in –the –world. He has
already begun and has a past through which he has been defined and shaped.
His factuality is his destination.

The second constitutive structure of dasein is existentiality. This structure points

to man’s disclosure of himself as a project and a possibility. Man is that which
he has been, but he also is that which he can become. Man finds himself thrown
in the world, but he also experiences freedom and responsibility to transform
his world and redefine himself in his concerns with it. This involves an
apprehension of human being in terms of possibilities. Dasein as possibility is
projected into the future. Thus, existentiality is temporally rooted in futurity as
factuality is rooted in the past. In a sense existentiality and factuality are polar
elements of human being. By virtue of his factuality man is always already
thrown into situations, by virtue of his existentiality he exists as possibility and
understands himself as moving into a future.

The third structural element in the ontological constitution of Dasein is

fallenness. Fallenness points to the universal tendency of man to lose himself in
his present preoccupations and concerns, alienating himself from his unique and
personal future possibilities. Fallen man exists as mere presence, retreating for
his genuine self who always involves his past and his future. He thus becomes a
reduced self. The fallenness of human being receives its most trenchant
expression in the movements of gossip, curiosity, and ambiguity. Gossip is an
inauthentic modification of speech which simply repeats the accepted,
everyday, conventional, and shallow interpretations of the public. No decisive
content is communicated, because gossip is concerned only with a reiteration of
the clichés which reflects the present and restricted world horizons of the
anonymous one. Curiosity, which is always allied with gossip, indicates man’s
insatiable desire to explore everything in his present environment simply for the
sake of discovering novelty not for the purpose of authentic understanding but
simply to engage in pursuits which will provide momentary distraction
ambiguity is the lack of comprehension and singleness of purpose which results
when the self has forfeited its unique possibilities in its preoccupation with the
present. Thus, factuality, existentiality, and fallenness constitute the three basic
ontological structures of human being. These structures are correspondingly
rooted in the three modes of temporality- past, future, and present. Factuality
qualifies dasein as already-in-the world, having arrived from a past; existentiality
qualifies him as purposive or as existing in advance of himself and fallenness
qualifies him as present with the world in his every day concerns.

Anxiety:

A phenomenological description which seeks to penetrate to the immediate

extreme being in the world will need to give disciplined attention to the
phenomenon of anxiety. Anxiety is described by Heidegger as a ground
determinant of the human situation. Anxiety is the basic mood which discloses
the threatening character of the world by confronting man with his irremovable
finitude. Anxiety should not be confused with fear. Fear has definite object. But
the source of anxiety remains undetermined. The source of anxiety is
nothingness. Through anxiety man encounters the nothingness which is
constitutive of his finitude.

Death:

Death in Heidegger scheme is not the biological termination of empirical reality.

It is a death one understands and appropriates in one’s existential concerns.
Death is a phenomenon which embraces the whole of life and entails a
responsibility for life. In anticipating his final and irrevocable limit of being in the
world, Dasein appraises himself in light of the finite possibilities, and
authentically chooses himself as a whole.
Guilt:

Guilt is also an important concept in Heidegger scheme. The guilt which is under
discussion in Being and Time is quite clearly not a moral quality which man may
or may not possess. It is transmoral concept. The moral view of guilt is rooted in
ontology of ‘on handedness’, wherein guilt is externalized and defined as a thing
or an on-hand reality. The trans moral concept of guilt understands guilt as a
structural implication of finitude and nothingness. Dasein as a field of concern is
basically a structure of finite possibilities, which he is tree to actualize in his
concrete choice. These possibilities are primarily rooted in the future. In
actualizing one I am not actualizing another, and thereby becoming guilty. Every
action implies guilt, but it is impossible to exist without acting. Thus, guilt is an
irrevocable quality of human being.

Resolution:

Resolution becomes a sine qua on for authentic existence. This resolution is

given its final meaning in Heidegger’s seminal interpretation of the character of
human time. This is the existential time. Qualitative or existential time, as
contrasted with clock time, understands time as and ecstatic unity. The past,
present and future are inseparable phases of the care structure of human
existence. In existential time the past is still real, and the future is already real.
Whereas quantitative time gives priority to the present, existential time gives
priority to the future. However, the past retains its significance in an existential
view of time. The past is never existentially finished. It holds possibilities which
can be repeated.

The resolute Dasein thus achieves or wins his authenticity when he takes over
his unique past, anticipates his unique future, and chooses in such a manner that
his past and future are integrated. The past is held in memory, the future is
courageously faced, and the moment is relatively affirmed as the opportune
time for decisive action.