By Schubert Ogden
Whitehead says: "Philosophy is the attempt to make manifest the (Modes ofThought: 67,87). If my interpretation of "Heidegger's existentialism" is at all right, however, fundamental evidence as to the nature of things. . . . The aim of philosophy issheer is sheer disclosure. . . . Our lives are passed in the experience of disclosure. As welose we lose this sense of disclosure, we are shedding the mode of functioning which is the soul. We are descending to mere conformity with the average of the past. Complete conformity means the loss of life." (Modes of Thought: 67,87).
If my interpretation of "Heidegger's existentialism" is at all right, however, he's evidently explicating much the same fundamental insight -- not only formally, with respect to his understanding of philosophy itself as ontology and ontology asphenomenolgyas phenomenology, but also materially, with respect to his understanding of humanexistencehuman existence. Consider, e.g., the following: \[M\ Wiki Markup
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[M]an's |
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finitude, |
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as |
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Heidegger |
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sees |
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it, |
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is |
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not |
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only |
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the |
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limitation |
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of |
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his |
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temporality |
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in |
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time; |
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his |
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being |
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is |
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also |
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radically |
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limited |
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in |
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space. |
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Man's |
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world, |
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as |
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comprising |
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the |
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other |
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beings |
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to |
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which |
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he |
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is |
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essentially |
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and |
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really |
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related, |
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never |
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coincides |
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with |
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the |
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totality of |
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beings |
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as |
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such, |
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but |
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is |
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always |
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a |
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restricted |
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phenomenal |
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field |
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bounded |
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by |
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an |
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external |
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environment. |
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The |
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reason |
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for |
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this |
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. . . |
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is |
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that |
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man's |
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having |
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a |
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world |
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at |
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all |
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is |
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grounded |
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not |
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in |
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his |
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openness |
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to |
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possibility |
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as |
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such, |
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but |
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in |
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his |
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being |
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necessarily |
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confined |
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to |
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some |
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specific |
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range |
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of |
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possibilities |
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inherited |
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from |
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his |
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finite |
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past |
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and |
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projected |
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into |
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his |
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finite |
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future. |
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Thus |
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man's |
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relatedness |
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to |
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others |
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is |
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itself |
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relative. |
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He |
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does |
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not |
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participate |
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in |
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them |
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fully, |
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as |
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they |
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are |
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in |
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themselves, |
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but |
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is |
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in |
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principle |
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required |
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to |
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encounter |
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them |
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under |
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the |
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perspectives |
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imposed |
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by |
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his |
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own |
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particular |
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projects |
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of |
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self-understanding. |
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Naturally, |
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in |
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his |
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average, |
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everyday |
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existence, |
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man |
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is |
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not |
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fully |
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conscious |
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of |
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this |
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spatial |
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limitation |
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of |
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his |
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world |
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and, |
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in |
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fact, |
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hides |
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from |
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himself |
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the |
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situational |
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character |
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of |
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the |
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'truth' |
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(Wahrheit) |
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constituted |
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by |
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his |
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highly |
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restricted |
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encounters |
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with |
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others. |
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He |
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treats |
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other |
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things |
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and |
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persons |
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as |
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the |
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mere |
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objects |
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of |
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his |
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own |
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finite |
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appreciations, |
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and |
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so |
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'falls' |
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( |
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verfällt) |
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or |
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succumbs |
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to |
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his |
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world |
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by |
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absolutizing |
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its |
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limitations. |
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As |
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authentic |
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existence, |
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however, |
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man |
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acknowledges |
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that |
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the |
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truth |
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in |
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which |
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he |
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stands |
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is |
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always |
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a |
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relative |
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truth, |
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and |
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he |
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holds |
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himself |
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open |
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for |
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ever |
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new |
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encounters |
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with |
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others |
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whose |
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being |
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in |
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themselves |
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transcends |
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their |
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being |
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for |
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him |
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as |
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objects |
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in |
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his |
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world. |
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Although |
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as |
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a |
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man, |
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he |
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must |
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continue |
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to |
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exist |
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within |
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his |
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world |
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and |
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may |
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always |
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succumb |
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to |
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a |
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new |
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bondage |
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to |
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it, |
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his |
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authenticity |
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consists |
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in |
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being |
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dialectically |
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free |
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from |
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it, |
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and |
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therefore |
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free |
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for |
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both |
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himself |
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and |
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the |
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other |
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beings |
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that |
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make |
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up |
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the |
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environment |
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beyond |
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him |
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(The |
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Reality |
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of God: 154 f.). |
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And also the parallel passage discussing what, in Heidegger's view, is "the most common and typical human reaction" to the experience of finitude, Lei.e., "anxiety": \[Olne reaction to this anxiety
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[O]ne reaction to this anxiety . . . |
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is |
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to |
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flee |
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from |
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it, |
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to |
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try |
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to |
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suppress |
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one's |
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awareness |
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of |
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one's |
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radical |
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finitude |
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by |
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existing |
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as |
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though |
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one |
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were |
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not |
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finite. |
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Thus, |
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for |
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example, |
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despite |
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the |
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fact |
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that |
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our |
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relatedness |
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to |
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our |
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world |
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is |
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always relative, |
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we |
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typically |
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hide |
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from |
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ourselves |
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the |
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situational |
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character |
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of |
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the |
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'truth' |
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(Wahrheit) |
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treat |
...
other |
...
things |
...
and |
...
persons |
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as |
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the |
...
mere |
...
objects |
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of |
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our |
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own |
...
finite |
...
appreciations, and so 'fall' or succumb to our world by absolutizing its limitations. Or, again, we try to evade the fact of our own having to die by talking about death as something that happens only in general – not to this unique individual or that but to an anonymous 'one' (das Man). . . . I do not die, but one dies -- someday, far away in the future. Furthermore, this attempt to suppress one's awareness of one's real situation is a social conspiracy already well underway before anyone of us as an individual arrives on the scene and is tempted to succumb to it. Indeed, on Heidegger's view, the privileged part of my world made up of my fellow human beings is ordinarily and for the most part simply one grand conspiracy to evade the threat of nothingness by creating and maintaining the world of everydayness. Every thing and person has its proper place -- namely, the place assigned to it by the ideas and values of the relevant social-cultural group, its language and institutions; and the rules of conventional behavior in force in the group relieve one of the responsibility of making one's own free decisions in face of the novel demands of the moment ("Heidegger's Existentialism": 11) |
3 January 2004 so Ifal\]' or succumb to our world by absolufizing its limitations. Or, againl_ _constituted by our radically restricted encounters with others.... We_ _lone{_}{_}{^}l{^}_ _(das Man)._ _..._ _I do not die, but_ _one_ _dies-someday, far_ *{_}11)._* we try to evade the fact of our own having to die by talking about death assomething that happens only in general-not to this unique individual or thatbut to an anonymousaway in the future. Furthermore this attempt to suppress one's awareness ofone's real situation is a social conspiracy already well underway before anyoneof us as an individual arrives on the scene and is tempted to succumb to it.Indeed, on Heidegger's view, the privileged part of my world made up of myfellow human beings is ordinarily and for the most part simply one grandconspiracy to evade the threat of nothingness by creating and maintaining the world of everydayness. Every thing and person has its proper place-namely,the place assigned to it by the ideas and values of the relevant social-culturalgroup, its language and institutions; and the rules of conventional behavior inforce in the group relieve one of the responsibility of making one's own freedecisions in face of the novel demands of the moment ("Heidegger's Existentialism":