Heidegger Flashcards
(10 cards)
What is the ontological difference in Heidegger’s philosophy, and why does he consider the question of Being (with a capital B) more fundamental than the study of beings (ontic)?
The ontological difference refers to Heidegger’s distinction between “beings” (ontic entities such as people, trees, or chairs) and “Being” (ontological, the condition or meaning of existence itself).
Heidegger argues that philosophy has historically focused on beings while neglecting the more fundamental question of what it means to be. This neglect is termed Seinsvergessenheit (forgetting of Being). For Heidegger, Being is not a deeper substance or a supreme entity like God, but that which allows beings to appear at all.
Thus, the question of Being is the foundational concern of philosophy.
Explain the concept of Dasein. How does Heidegger’s notion of ‘being-in-the-world’ challenge traditional metaphysical distinctions between subject and object?
Dasein, meaning “there-being” or “open-being,” is Heidegger’s term for human existence. It emphasises that humans are not detached observers but are always already situated in a world.
“Being-in-the-world” challenges the subject-object dichotomy by showing that Dasein does not encounter the world as a separate object but is fundamentally involved in it through practical engagement. This involvement is not theoretical but lived and embodied, where tools and entities are encountered as part of meaningful activity.
Discuss Heidegger’s critique of metaphysical thinking and the idea of Seinsvergessenheit (‘forgetting of Being’). How does this critique shape his approach to philosophy?
Heidegger criticises metaphysical thinking for reducing Being to particular beings—such as Platonic forms, God, or scientific particles—in an attempt to find a stable ground. This approach, he argues, forgets the ontological difference and fails to ask the fundamental question of what it means to be. Seinsvergessenheit is the historical tendency of philosophy to overlook Being itself. Heidegger’s approach seeks to recover this question by examining how Being reveals itself through Dasein’s experience.
What is the significance of ‘readiness-to-hand’ and ‘care’ (Sorge) in Heidegger’s analysis of everyday existence? How do these concepts reveal the structure of meaning in the world?
“Readiness-to-hand” describes how we primarily encounter entities as tools within practical contexts, not as isolated objects. For example, a hammer is not perceived as a thing but as something to use in building.
This mode of engagement reveals that meaning arises from our involvement in the world. “Care” (Sorge) is the structure of Dasein’s being—it is through care that the world becomes meaningful.
What we care about determines how entities appear to us and shapes our projects and concerns.
Analyse the temporal structure of Dasein through the concepts of thrownness, projection, and being-towards-death. How do these relate to authenticity and inauthenticity?
Dasein is temporal: it is thrown into a world it did not choose (thrownness), projects itself into future possibilities (projection), and faces its own mortality (being-towards-death).
Authenticity arises when Dasein confronts its finitude and lives in light of its death, unifying its projects meaningfully. Inauthenticity, by contrast, involves falling into everyday routines and conforming to “Das Man” (the anonymous ‘they’), avoiding the anxiety of death and the responsibility of selfhood.
What role does anxiety play in Heidegger’s account of authenticity? How does the confrontation with death shape Dasein’s understanding of its existence?
Anxiety reveals the nothingness underlying our existence and strips away the distractions of everyday life. It discloses the finitude of Dasein and its potential for authenticity.
Being-towards-death is the recognition that one’s death is personal and inevitable. This confrontation allows Dasein to take ownership of its life and live authentically, choosing its projects in light of its mortality rather than conforming to societal norms.
Summarise Heidegger’s critique of Sartre in the Letter on Humanism. How does Heidegger reinterpret his own earlier work in response to Sartre’s existentialism?
Heidegger criticises Sartre for misinterpreting Being and Time by claiming that humans (the for-itself) create meaning through negation and projection.
Heidegger argues that Sartre overemphasises human agency and neglects the role of thrownness. He reinterprets his earlier work by stressing that Dasein does not determine how the world appears; rather, Being reveals itself to Dasein.
Heidegger also rejects Sartre’s humanism as metaphysical and nihilistic, as it treats values as human constructs rather than as emerging from Being.
What does Heidegger mean by the claim that ‘projection is essentially a thrown projection’? How does this reframe the relationship between freedom, passivity, and meaning?
Heidegger means that even our active choices (projection) are shaped by conditions we did not choose (thrownness). We do not freely choose what we care about or how the world appears to us. This reframes freedom as situated and conditioned: our possibilities are always already shaped by our historical and existential context. Meaning is not created ex nihilo by the subject but emerges from our passive openness to Being.
Explain Heidegger’s concept of the ‘history of Being’. What are ‘epochs of truth’, and how do they influence how the world is revealed to Dasein?
The “history of Being” refers to the idea that Being reveals itself differently across historical periods. Each “epoch of truth” is a phase in which certain aspects of Being are unconcealed while others are concealed. For example, the world may appear as divine creation in one epoch and as raw material in another.
Heidegger sees the current epoch as the “technological epoch,” where beings are encountered in a calculative, exploitative manner. These epochs are not chosen by humans but are part of Being’s unfolding.
Why does Heidegger reject ethics based on human attribution of value? What alternative ethos does he propose, and how is it expressed through poetry and ecological sensitivity?
Heidegger rejects ethics that treat values as human projections onto a meaningless world, as this reduces beings to objects and leads to nihilism.
Instead, he proposes an ethos of openness to Being, where humans act as “shepherds of Being” rather than its masters. This ethos involves a heightened sensitivity to how Being reveals itself. Poetry, as a form of language attuned to Being, plays a key role in expressing this openness. Heidegger also hints at a proto-ecological attitude: letting beings be, rather than controlling or exploiting them.
