Introduction
The concept of Being is as old as being itself. Heidegger, one of the greatest philosophers, attempts to ascertain the meaning of Being. In his work, he employs the term Dasein to explain the existence of being. His argument plays a key role in philosophy as it attempts to pose the question of the meaning of being.
This ‘question’ forms a fundamental role in formulating Heidegger’s concept of meaning of being. It should be noted that the term ‘question’ is emphasized in Heidegger’s work. This is because he uses it to track the truth of being. Being an ontologist, his work concentrates on replenishing the question of ontology. He argues that this matter has created a huge problem especially to the western philosophers.
The problem, according to him, is the question of being. It is however notable that although it appears his argument seems to concentrate on the question of being; he makes a plausible attempt to explain the nature of philosophy. According to him, he views philosophy as an ontological seeking as opposed to ontic. Heidegger’s argument therefore opens up the concept of philosophy to ‘questioning’ in an attempt to understand the meaning of being.
He further uses his ‘question’ philosophical approach to describe the existence of being and coming up with the fundamental presuppositions adopted to explain being. This paper will therefore examine the important question of being as articulated in Heidegger’s work. The author of this paper will also revolve around the ontological composition of the world and its contribution to the question of being.
The Concept Of ‘Being’
Heidegger’s philosophy of ‘being’ is an ontology that seem to focus on self philosophical consciousness of man. According to him, the question of being has been neglected and forgotten. He continues to argue that this very question greatly contributed to the works of Plato and Aristotle.
This assertion cannot be taken to mean that no other philosopher has questioned the meaning of being since the contribution of the two philosophers. Rather, this assertion has been interpreted to mean that most philosophers have concentrated on exploring the nature of beings and not the ‘being’ itself. According to Heidegger, he maintains that that he is the only philosopher who has attempted to examine the primary question that has been neglected by all other western philosophers.
According to his school of thought, he purports that the question of being has been prejudiced and deemed as unnecessary. He therefore comes up with three presuppositions that he believes have contributed to such prejudice and to which he refutes. First, the proposition that ‘Being’ is the ‘most universal concept’.
He asserts that “an understanding of Being is contained within our every apprehension of beings.” In his argument, he brings to fore the philosophical arguments by other philosophers such as Aristotle and Hegel hence coming up with the conclusion that the concept of Being is not a universal concept, but rather vague and obscure. This argument attempts to bring out the ontological distinction between Being and beings.
The philosophical approach by Thomists and Hegel seem to incline towards the idea that Being and beings should not be unified. This therefore creates an implication that if the two concepts cannot be treated as one, then it would be difficult to define the universality of ‘Being’. Further, it becomes hard to comprehend the terms that govern ‘Being’ as the ‘most universal concept’. Heidegger best approaches this contentious issue by asserting that it is difficult to come up with a precise definition of ‘Being’.
According to him, “The concept of Being cannot be understood as a being, and Being cannot be depicted as predicating beings to it.” The implication created is that the question of being goes beyond logic. This means that it must surpass the normal way of analyzing things. It is not in doubt that most western philosophers have concentrated entirely on beings as opposed to Being.
This makes it difficult to rely on their formulations hence making it vital to adopt a different approach. It is also important to note that Heidegger does not render their formulations useless but rather as unreliable. Thirdly, he debates on the notion that being is the self-evident concept.
The use of copula (is) regularly in the day to day language in an attempt to discuss beings. It is therefore arguable that most philosophers seem to comprehend the concept of ‘being’ but nevertheless dismiss it as ‘unintelligible’. From this, it can be inferred that an appeal to the concept of self-evident should be dismissed as a ‘doubtful process’ as it is solely based on one’s analytical features.
Based on the above ‘dogmas’ laid down by Heidegger, it is apparent that the question of Being has not been adequately addressed by philosophers and as Heidegger puts it, ‘the meaning of Being is still veiled in darkness.”
What then is ‘Being’? From the above argument, it is important to first formulate the question in order to come up with an appropriate answer. This simply means that it would be difficult to rely on any Supreme Being to comprehend the source of Being. The answer should be sought elsewhere. This is because the question of being is constituted in the entities of the Being. The basis of examination therefore lies in these very entities that need to be interrogated in order to establish the appropriate answer.
Theoretical Observation
The existence of Dasein proves to be the underlying principle in Heidegger’s works that describe the concept of ‘Being’. By exploring the existence of Dasien in its actual form and its continued survival in everyday life, Heidegger simplifies the quest to understand the meaning of Being as a whole. In his argument, he refutes the authenticity of the declaration pertaining propositional facts in a bid to understand Being.
He views such propositions as being sightless and secluded. Further, he argues that they do not possess any form of truth construed in the logic of ‘agreement’. According to him, it is necessary for Dasein to recognize itself based on its existence and the possibility of Being as it is.
The possibility of existence is fully dependent on the form assumed by Dasien itself. This means that it is up to the Dasien itself to determine its existence depending on the possibility it has assumed. In essence, the experiences of our everyday life play an integral role to either apprehend or disregard the possibilities that aids our understanding of existence.
Another theoretical observation is in regards of Dasien’s existence in a ‘world’. The existence in the ‘world’ is not by choice. According to Heidegger, Dasien’s existence in the world is not out of free will but rather living ‘as it is’. This means that Dasien has to adapt to the things that are attached to the world. Further, the world is special to each Dasien. The Dasien is therefore attached to the world and describes itself in relation to this world.
This therefore explains the reason why beings develop a habit of getting ensnared to the world. In fact, the daily existence results to the Dasien focusing on the current worldly activities hence forgetting to view ‘Being’ as it really is. This leads to the human beings being estranged from their true-selves.
How then is the authentic Being exposed to us in order to understand the existence? What decisive entity of Being is revealed in order to unveil the true nature of Being? According to Heidegger, the answers to these questions depend on time or temporality. In his school of thought, he recognizes the importance of time to project the meaning of Being. Each Being emerged from somewhere and after its present existence, it will surely have an end.
It is therefore of importance to note that the existence is based on time. Further, our present existence means that we have not fully existed. This therefore defines our Being. However, it should be understood that the everyday occurrence of Being just before death is not conclusive. It is only when we meet the ultimate death that the authentic Being is revealed. He refers to this concept as ‘the ontological possibility.’
In expanding his idea of Being, he infers that ontology must assume some form of distinction. That is to say that a distinction between something and nothing need to be formulated. Being and time therefore examines the ontological importance that governs Being’s existence.
According to Heidegger, consciousness is therefore important as it poses a challenge to humans to live freely in order to live as a whole. In the actual sense, man appears to be bound yet he is exposed to all manner of freedoms. It is for the man to ascertain where he should derive his freedom from.
It is also apparent that the phenomenological method is clearly evident in Heidegger’s argument. This is particularly evident in his insistence of being and time. It is for this reason that Heidegger attributes his philosophical success in his work to Edmund Husserl, one of the most successful phenomenologists of all time.
Accordingly, his question of Being constitutes an enormous analysis in the phenomenological custom of Dasien, who in itself seeks being. How then does Heidegger apply the concept of phenomenology to come to his conclusion? The concept of phenomenology is traced to Kant who attempted to differentiate between ‘phenomenon’ and ‘noumenon’. Hegel also applied the concept in assessing the growth of the human spirit whereby he criticized Kant’s philosophy of the two world’s dichotomy.
The term was also coined by Husserl to explain his philosophy of ‘eidetic reduction’. It is therefore not a new methodology adopted by Heidegger to explain his own ‘hermeneutic phenomenology’. His methodology lays down the process that merely describes the existence of human beings and their everyday experiences.
He attempts to create synchronization in the contradicting terms of existence that result from hermeneutic phenomenology. According to him, he distinguishes his phenomenology from other sciences. This, he attributes to the fact that his phenomenology concentrates more on the superficial resemblance of human society hence approaching the ontology Being as it is.
Positive Response To Heidegger’s Argument
Based on the above argument, it is important to note that Heidegger’s argument can be said to be tenable. First, his assertion that every Dasien decides his mode of existence can be approached at different levels. It is not in doubt that the definitive certainty existence supersedes intellectual existence.
It is therefore personalized and internalized. It is for this reason that it is appropriate to state that man’s existence is based on certain decisions. Failure to make such decisions renders the failure as a decision itself. It therefore becomes important for the temporary nature of life to be emphasized in order to prepare and anticipate our looming death, which is bound to happen at any minute.
And how do we define death? While scholars assert that man is conscious of his own death, Heidegger’s philosophical argument is that man acquires the meaning of life upon facing the truth of his own transience. This philosophical approach is therefore upheld. In essence, death has been said to be man’s crucial problem.
Further, the ontological prominence embedded on temporality is important to reverberate Kant’s argument that the constraint in time is a prerequisite for things to materialize as they are. If the argument is to be approached on the two philosophical arguments, then it would be imperative to say that Heidegger’s argument on temporality acquires an idiosyncratic twist.
He disregards the notion of infinite time as one that presents itself at the moment of existence. It can therefore be argued that temporality is a combination of the past, present and future sequences of time that are essentially interlocked.
Fundamentally, the question of Being surrounds itself on being and time as proposed by Heidegger. It therefore remains the basic question in the field of philosophy. Heidegger tackles this question by examining the existence of Dasein. This should not be taken to mean that his focus on Dasien obstructs a clear comprehension of Being. His transcendental methodology that enlightens the priori stipulations on the basis of which Being is viewed as gifted is therefore appreciated.
Heidegger also tries to explain the concept of death. It is not in doubt that every Being will cease to exist. He argues that each Being is entitled to his own death. Death cannot be shared with another Being. It is therefore non-relational. The argument tendered by Heidegger is valid in that no one can evade death. The argument therefore creates a very significant concept for the philosophers in an attempt to answer the question for Being.
Conclusion
The basic work of Heidegger is a contribution to the question of existence of man. His argument has attempted to tackle the question of Being by introducing Dasein. In our discussion above, our Being is determined by the existence of Dasien. Heidegger also challenges his fellow western philosophers to concentrate on the concept of Being, rather than concentrating on the nature of beings.
This is because the concept of Being supersedes the nature of beings and should therefore be prioritized. He also formulates a methodology to tackle the question of being. According to his argument, this question of being forms the basis of all other inquiries. Heidegger can therefore be regarded as the ‘builder’ of tradition due to his massive contribution to philosophy through his hermeneutic phenomenology.