Heidegger's Existentialism: Key Concepts - PHILO-notes Whiteboard Edition

hello fellow notes friends welcome back for another edition of our daily whiteboard in this edition I will briefly sketch Martin Heidegger is existential philosophy it must be noted that Heidegger is a huge philosopher and difficult to understand thus I will only present the key concepts of heidegger's existence all philosophy to begin with it is important to note that Heidegger offers a new conception of philosophy which according to some scholars such as Verner marks aims ultimately to attain a second beginning at this late stage or 20th century of human development thus Heidegger's effort must be seen as composing in a new different way the question concerning the essence of being and at one with us articulating the essence of man it appears therefore that hiding his main intention in rekindling the question concerning the essence of being is to really articulate the essence and meaning of being human but why the second beginning of philosophy and the task of composing a new the essence of being in the essence of man for Heidegger this question has long been stalemated and yet the question of being that is the essence of being and the essence of man remains the original question indeed it is the first question concerning the meaning of our own being that is the meaning of being human vis a vie the meaning of being that is being in general or the entirety of nature the attempt to rekindle the question of being implies for Heidegger not only a going back that is remembering the original question in appropriating what this serious question itself had revealed to human beings or design but also a going back to those thinkers who first raised the question concerning the being of beings that is the pre-socratics in other words for Heidegger if we want to understand the essence of being then we need to revisit the pre-socratic philosophers and know what they said about being as is well known the pre-socratics were the first to raise the question concerning the essence of being and of man thus they were referred to as the first philosophers with this they were said to have set the first beginning of a philosophy we must note however that the term pre-socratics does not refer only to the set of philosophers from thalers to the Sophists for example protagoras gorgias and racemic owes but also to the Philomath way that is the lovers of myth like he's Yoda and Homer as Aristotle would call him thus in this context philosophy could be said to have begun with a Philomath Ori and the pre-socratics now let me briefly explain the difference between the Philomath Ori and the pre-socratics way of philosophizing on the one hand the Philomath I addressed the question concerning being through their mythical songs according to Verner Marx through the mythical songs of the Philomath Ori the great and terrifying powers that formed in ruled the cosmos came to light and shone forth in the brilliance of the beautiful in the terror of the numinous in other words the Philomath Oh explained the meaning of being that is the entirety of nature through mythical songs and poems if it helps we have to remember that the ancient people the Philomath oh and the pre-socratics in this case found the cosmos our nature to be mysterious for example it's difficult for the ancient people to make sense of darkness lightning the Four Seasons and the like but as records show they attempted to explain the mysteriousness of these phenomena and in doing so the Philomath I used their mythical songs and poems concrete example - this is the genesis the first part of the Bible as we know the authors of the Genesis explained the origin and development of the world through myth it is interesting to note that during this time myth is the best available method in explaining the mysteriousness of the world it is also important to note that in and through the simplicity and immediacy of the speech that is the saying and singing of the Philomath or a whole meaningful order arose out of the darkness that had shrouded all that is or being in other words it is through their mythical songs and points that the Philomath I was able to make sense of the mysteriousness of the world lastly the Philomath oi in awe and wonder felt themselves as simply servants or instruments or voices of the powers about which they sang in other words the Philomath I believe that they were simply recipients of thoughts or knowledge that they did not invent thoughts instead thoughts or knowledge were simply revealed to them as we can see later this is the basis of Heidegger's famous line we did not come to thoughts thoughts come to us the pre-socratics on the other hand addressed the question concerning being through a reason hence it was with the pre-socratics that reason was first used in thinking of the mysteriousness of the world for Heidegger the thinking of the pre-socratics was simple immediate and poetic that is creative hence for Heidegger the thinking of the pre-socratics is a thinking of and toward that which enables empowers informs all that is that is the thinking of and toward the logos or underlying principle of the world like the Philomath or the pre-socratic thinkers felt themselves as servants instruments and voices of that power they deserved most that is of news the light giving reason blessed with a news or light giving reason the pre-socratic thinkers were gifted with Louisa's that is the capacity to apprehend intuitively and thereby to bring the meaning of reason into the fullness of its light and through these elucidation x' the cosmos become more lucid now it must be noted that the pre-socratics did not try to elucidate the various meanings of all the many particular beings instead they tried to understand the meaning of being holistically hence the pre-socratics most of all attempted to understand the entirety of nature through the conception of the phenomenal elementary powers of nature the elements of water fire air and earth and in doing so the pre-socratics attempted to let emerge that which held all these elements together and empowered them namely faces that is the nature Ness of nature for the pre-socratics thesis is the great unifying mother and is conceived as Ian or to an eye that is being or to be this is because the way faeces unfolds itself was seen by the pre-socratics as the way being and folds itself or the way being allows the fisa on top the natural beings to be or not to be in this way thesis is understood as that which allows being to make itself appear but in the act of appearing being passes again into darkness of their past again as we can see later this is the basis of Heidegger's famous claim that the moment being reveals itself it automatically with Ross itself indeed in their philosophizing poems the pre-socratics elucidated poetically a certain essence of being and at one with the essence of being the essence of man was poetically composed as that natural being that can think the essence of being put differently as Heidegger sees it through the thinking of the pre-socratics we are able to make sense of the mysteriousness of nature and part of this understanding is the realization that indeed which Heidegger calls design has the capability of understanding reality this discussion provides the context of Heidegger's existence of philosophy and the reason why Heidegger appropriated the thinking of the pre-socratics in making sense of the meaning of being as Verner Marx writes it is therefore not surprising to find in analyzing the writings of Heidegger that his new conception of philosophy seems to demand that the understanding of the philosopher be changed to the kind of self understanding which the pre-socratics had that is that the new philosopher feel himself again as intermediary instrument and voice and a style of philosophizing again become simple immediate and poetic like the singing and thinking of the pre-socratics and finally Heidegger as the first thinkers did now sees the foremost task or subject matter of philosophy not as the explanation of the meaning of particular beings but as the elucidation articulation and poetic composition of a new essence of being and thereby of a new essence of men now at this point I need to briefly present the key intuition of ideas brand of metaphysics because we cannot fully understand Heidegger's existential philosophy without understanding the key intuition of his metaphysics it must be noted that Heidegger rejects the whole enterprise of metaphysics in the traditional sense of this word where it indicates something eternal infinite and perfect Heidi gives metaphysics is a finite metaphysics of finiteness what Heidegger calls metaphysics therefore is bound up with a structure of man's finite existence in the world and so Heidegger proposes to understand man's being in particular and being in general within the horizon of time thus the idea of going beyond time and coming back to time that is transcendence is a misunderstanding of hide again transcendence for Heidegger is transcendence within imminence that is to say transcendence within time again the point of hide against metaphysics is that the meaning of being in general and the meaning of man's existence should be understood in the context of time there is no outside of time for Heidegger and this is one of the proper angles in understanding Heidegger's exist tential philosophy thus for Heidegger men are design transcends itself but not toward a perfect being like God if Kierkegaard and Esper's man transcends itself toward its own world and nothing else we can fully understand this concept once we have understood the key concepts of height against existential philosophy namely his concepts of facticity and deliverance overton esand world and the problem of authenticity and in authenticity the result of hide against inquiry into the meaning of being that is existential phenomenology is that design is being there in the world and that it has come to be in the world through deliverance or thoroughness to use Heidegger's word and Heidegger says design is thrown into the world and that being in the world is a throne Asst Heidegger writes this characteristic of designs being this that it is is veiled in its winds and wither yet disclosed in itself all the more unveiled Lee we call it the thoroughness of this entity into its of there indeed it is thrown in such a way that as being in the world it is the there the expression thoroughness is meant to suggest the facticity of its being delivered over for Heidegger this throne is into the world necessarily implies that design always exists with other entities in the world and hence as a being with others in the world design is entirely submerged in the immediate care and concern of the everyday world into which it is thrown evidently being with others in the world suggests that the existence of design in the world is an existence with the they or does mine or the anonymous anyone thus when Heidegger says that design is emerged in the immediate care and concern of the everyday world into which it is thrown this means that design is constantly related to other human beings in the form of concern and care as a throne being design is not simply extant or 400 or present at hand like a stone nor design is determined by an alien purpose or zoo Endon were ready to hand like a hammer which is what it is as something to hammer with and which only man can handle in contradistinction from these two other ways of being which are the merely extant or for hynden and the functional being or zu hundun men or design has the privilege of being in such a way that he is thrust upon himself and yet owns his own existence and unlike all other beings man is so constituted that through most of his actions he stands in some awareness of his being of that and how he is this means that men or design is conscious not only of the things around him but also of his own existence for this reason almost all of man's act is an act in some awareness of the essence of being in other words for Heidegger the awareness of one's being that is self-consciousness is also at the same time an awareness of the essence of being or essence of reality in fact Heidegger believes that man is so constituted that he is open not only for his own being or the character and meanings of his own existence but also for the being of other human and non-human particular beings now the idea that men are designed is open to the essence of being that is his own being and the being of other beings gives way to the concept of a witness as one of the conditions of the possibility of truly existing as a human being but what is overt nacelle f-- open to the essence of being Heidegger understands overt Nastase but he avoids using the term not only because of its Cartesian implications but because it prevents us from realizing that each individual acidity or overton ascends parcel of a wide and general Overton s of an elementary sort of truth thus openness as consciousness simply refers to the manifest Nastase Heidegger this overt Ness is an a priori condition for any so-called subject object relationships thus for Heidegger no subject could refer itself to an object no act of experiential knowledge about an object could take place and no statement or judgment could be arrived at about an object if such prior statement of manifest nest had not come about embracing both subject and object now again how does man make himself open to the essence of being well first we need to take note that for Heidegger man our design is gifted with understanding mood and speech but for Heidegger these gifts are not gifts from someone say God in fact Heidegger hardly believes in God Heidegger simply caused these gifts as existence of Givens they were there the moment man was born according to Heidegger in and through these existential Givens man discloses or eliminates himself this is because with these existence all Givens men or design can understand feel and articulate hence through these existential Givens Ovid nice brought into the fore and man our design is able to understand himself and the things around him lastly with Ovid Ness it is therefore possible for men are designed to become truly himself to truly exist as a human being in addition to Overton Asst Heidegger introduced the concept of world as another important condition of the possibility of truly existing as a human being for Heidegger world refers to that which constitutes the unity of significances that is the context of meanings in which man moves thus griddled for Heidegger is not a blind mass of things or the totality of nature but an existential structure that defines or constitutes man's way of being put simply world for Heidegger could refer to a social cultural context up in which man draws meaning or that which shapes one's behavior for example consider the phrase the Germans way of doing things or the Americans way of doing things for sure the Germans or the Americans have their specific way of doing things because they have been defined by their own context hence it is unnatural for the Germans to do the Americans way of doing things because it's outside of their context for Heidegger man refers to this context of inter subjective meanings because he is always already within and amidst beings and moves around them with ease and familiarity thus for Heidegger it is in and through the world that man projects and charts his own life for pragmatic reasons but does so within this context of meanings and always guided by it in this sense we can infer that man is determined by world and therefore on this ground alone it is quite wrong to assert that Heidegger has conceived of a man as sovereign or self creator now the two notions of Ovid Ness and world constitute man is an entity that stands in an intimate and immediate awareness of being in its character and meanings only when Ovid nests and world occur can all that is or the essence of being and particular beings or ontic be encountered as beings it is only through Overton Assante world therefore that the in concealment of being becomes possible [Music] and so we learned that through Ovid Ness and world man can gain a high degree of understanding of itself and the things around him and thereby experience his true being that of others and of his things however men in his everyday life fails to realize that his mood understanding and speech are necessary ways of being this is due to the fact that man's thrown us into the world implies deliverance or fallenness man's failure to realize that he smooth understanding in speech are necessary ways of being suggest that man is lost in the world for Heidegger this lostness or fallenness in the world means that it is now the world that prescribes the path for man of which he succumbed or surrendered his creative abilities to worldly things this exactly characterizes heidegger's notion of in authenticity or an inauthentic or meaningless existence hence in authenticity for Heidegger means being not free because we let others or dustman decide for ourselves indeed inauthenticity means not owning one's own existence now four men are designed to be authentic therefore it has to own its existence again that it has to regain its existence that is lost in that they and for Heidegger this implies that design has to gain somehow full awareness of the significance of what it means to be of what it means to be a self with others and objects in the world if inauthenticity is understood as the fallenness of design into the world and if authenticity means full awareness of what it means to be a self with others and objects in the world then this implies a becoming or the realization of designs possibilities for Heidegger such realization of designs possibilities occurs through the experience of honest which mobilizes other key categories such as death conscience and decided nasai yoga understands as does the authentic sensibility that miss closest designs finite existence in the world this disclosure allows design to understand itself as a finite being thrown toward its own most possibility which is dead through death understood as the paradoxical possibility of no longer being able to be their design is thrown back to its own resources this movement then discloses design as an individual self thrown into the world whose task in the world is to exist as itself that is to say to be authentic for high to go therefore death is the ultimate basis of authenticity for Heidegger the categories of conscience and decided 'no san sir the question concerning the possibility of authentic existence Heidegger understands conscience as the inner voice within design itself that calls design to come back to itself and sees the authentic possibility of truly being itself conscience appears to be an odd on the part of design to own his existence again once design heeds the call of conscience decided Ness ensues authenticity therefore as the full awareness of the significance of what it means to be itself also means an awareness of one's own most possibilities and the firm result to realize them in the future authenticity is as tied to one's possibilities into possible future ways of being for Heidegger this makes manifest the temporal axis to existential phenomenology design is in the present indebted to the Past and oriented toward the future or death indeed the threefold structure of care turns out to be also the structure of existence the human being is a being in time however for Heidegger authenticity requires a kind of mood understanding and speech that are attuned to the essence of being and this is possible in the thinking of the philosopher and men as design and as thinker will realize that his thinking is a way of being that the essence of being unfolds in it and that he is therefore a necessary instrument that he is needed for the articulation of the essence of being Heidegger however believes that Aristotle and the Philosopher's after him failed to think about the essence of being because they had only articulated the meaning of particular beings because of this Heidegger believes philosophers either too could not realize themselves as design as authentic beings this is precisely the reason why Heidegger calls for a second beginning of philosophy and for Heidegger this is the new task of philosophy to think of being holistically but what is the character of this new philosophizing well Heidegger calls this and Dinkin which means a thinking toward and of and in this sense a remembering kind of thinking remembering because the moment being reveals itself it's automatically with Ross itself but toward what and of what in other words what is the subject matter of this kind of thinking according to Heidegger men should think toward and of the essence of being and of the essence of men this is what we meant a tuning oneself to be and as we already know it is only when we attuned ourselves to being that we become ready of the and concealment of being and our eventual appropriation of that which is unconcealed by being as Heidegger formulates it being commands and directs the thinker or being claims the thinking of the thinker so that it thereby may conceal itself in its truth this is what Heidegger calls essential or meditative thinking as opposed to calculative or scientific thinking on a final note it must be remember that Heidegger did not pretend to have solved the problem of being toward the end of his monuments being in time Heidegger says explicitly that its only purpose is to rekindle the question of being and to bring into motion what has become stalemated in fact Heidegger concludes this work not with ready-made answers but with a series of open questions alright that's it for today keep looking forward to our series of daily whiteboard additions as we try to make the learning and understanding of philosophy incredibly easy thanks for joining us today in this edition of our daily whiteboard here at filo notes full transcript of this video is available at feel or notes com to give you updated of our daily whiteboard additions here at filo notes just click here and subscribe until then thanks take care [Music] you

Channel: PHILO-notes

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Keywords: Martin Heidegger, Heidegger, Heidegger’s Existential Philosophy, Heidegger’s Existentialism, Heidegger’s Existential Phenomenology, Heidegger’s Being and Time, Authentic and Inauthentic Existence

Id: lq1XgHMetUI

Length: 32min 48sec (1968 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 12 2018