Heidegger Biography
Martin Heidegger, a German philosopher, was born in 1889 to a catholic family. He was raised in a Roman Catholic Church where his father served as sexton. Heidegger gained many contributions from the Catholic Church that were working tooth and nail in preparing him for the priesthood. His interest in philosophy arose while he was in high school at the teenage of seventeen. His quench for philosophy inspired him into raising a quest for the meaning of being.
Heidegger encountered health problems while he was in university leading to his breaking of theology study for the priesthood. He took part in the First World War for a short span of time due to his health problems. The breaking of Heidegger from studying theology to philosophy led to him leaving Catholic Church with the claim of its incompatibility with his philosophical work. As a lecturer, Heidegger taught phenomenology. Hitlers governance affected significantly the normal running of Heideggers life leading to him joining the Nazi movement. His participation in the lost Germany battle led to his dismissal from the philosophical chair and later banned in 1949.
Heidegger’s view of philosophy
Heidegger in his study of philosophy pinpointed the weaknesses involving the observance of beings. According to him, beings appeared as things in themselves lacking the effectiveness of the principle of phenomenology in their study. To solve this, Heidegger gave attention to modes that determined the existence and encounter of things. Heidegger analyzed the structures of constitutive things and their theoretical attitude of consciousness. He also explained the essence of the resemblance of structures to other beings. (Wartenberg 28).
According to Heidegger, the peak for philosophy is Dasein in its being and not untainted consciousness. According to him, Dasein is comprised of a being in any creature. Heidegger ended up in a challenge on how to define the word being itself. Heidegger plaid a crucial role also in describing ontology, he related ontology to phenomenology by arguing that phenomenology is one of the ways of accessing the theme of ontology. He further describes phenomenology as one of the methods of accessing a being. His disregard of consciousness as a major element in his study of philosophy is due to his sticks to the doctrine of Dasein. (Bahuguna 54).
Heidegger views about Earthly elements and Dasein
Dasein means existence in the German language. According to Heidegger, Dasein being had the ability to make issues of its own. He further describes Dasein as temporal in nature due to its ontological structure that he divided into three: existence, dropness, and tossness. The temporality of Dasein according to Heidegger gave it the potentiality of regenerating itself from the past and into the future. The repetition of uniqueness met by the Dasein according to Heidegger constituted the phenomenon of inventive history rooted in temporality.
Heideggers views about time
Heidegger spent much of his time in school finding the meaning of being. He believed in the science of existence and thus worked hard in dismantling traditional philosophical hypotheses and perspectives. His goal was to create awareness of the phenomenological reduction in human individuals. Heidegger decided to undertake a first-round investigation of the term being of the human individual. He argued that the definition of being must exclude itself as a point of reference. (Marino x, 6)
According to Heidegger, the human being was made up of four elements: being-toward-death, anxiety, humor, and survival. He defined anxiety as the ability of something to care about itself. According to him, being-toward-death, represented the finite nature of life, a phenomenon that neglected the awareness of Gods existence. Heidegger defined survival as the knowledge of oneself and the changes encountered in life. He further argued beings use moods reactions to define themselves.
Survival and Spirit
Heidegger believed that the existence of the physical body gave herald to the spirit of life. He argued that a being becomes aware of itself after undergoing some developmental stages in life. However, he found the man to be a unique being. Man, unlike other beings, does not have a simultaneous appearance of essence and existence. Heidegger also found out that man created only essential things to satisfy his demands. (Wartenberg 16)
Dasein term
Beings taking care of themselves were one way of understanding the physical selves. According to Heidegger, the existence of Dasein was due to five different elements: invalidity, genuineness, commonness, everydayness, and collectiveness. He emphasized on authentic being signified a preference of personality and accomplishment. He argued that illogicalness resulted from obsession, trade, and other outside forces. Genuineness according to Heidegger was acceptance of the loss of differentiation by an individual. Lack of making choices in life according to Heidegger was a representation of commonnessness. He used the five modes of Dasein’s definition to explain man’s existence in the world. Heidegger believed that understanding of existence required acceptance of death as a fact in life. He supported himself by explaining how death acceptance leads to a focus of essence.
Heidegger views on how to overcome metaphysics
Heidegger described metaphysics as any discipline that provided an answer to the question existence of beings. He further argued about the contribution of metaphysics towards Western humankind that kept them in a close relationship despite their difference.
Philosophy to political theory
Heidegger in philosophical work showed some interest in politics. He identified the permanence of the metaphysical culture of the Western. To keep himself at a distance from the traditional culture, Heidegger turned to Pre-Socratic. He argued that modernity would aid in overturning traditional cultures of the West. (Bahuguna 19)
Works cited
Bahuguna, Bikrama. Layman’s Introduction to Philosophy and Life. New Delhi: Mittal Publications, 2009. Print.
Marino, Gordon. Basic Writings of Existentialism. New York: Random House Publisher, 2004. Print.
Wartenberg, E. Thomas. Existentialism (A Beginners Guide). UK: Oneworld Publications, 2008. Print.