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Heidegger’s Existential Philosophy: Key Concepts
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This lecture notes discusses the key concepts of Martin Heidegger’s existential philosophy.
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Heidegger’s Existential Philosophy: Key ConceptsIn these notes, I will briefly sketch the key concepts of Martin Heidegger’s existential
philosophy. However, it must be noted that Heidegger is a huge philosopher and
difficult to understand. Thus, I will only present the key concepts of his existential
philosophy.
To begin with, it is important to note that Heidegger offers a new conception of
philosophy, which, according to some scholars, such as Werner Marx, aims ultimately to
attain a “second beginning” at this late stage (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 this, articulating the “Essence of
Man”. It appears therefore that Heidegger’s main intention in rekindling the question
concerning the “Essence of Being” is to really articulate the essence and meaning of
being human.
Why the “second beginning” of philosophy and the task of composing anew the
“Essence of Being” and 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-à-vis 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) to the original question and appropriating what this
serious question itself had revealed to human beings (Dasein), 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 philosophy.
We must note, however, that the term “pre-Socratics” does not refer only to the set of
philosophers from Thales to the Sophists (for example, Protagoras, Gorgias, and
Thracymachus), but also to the philomythoi (that is, the lovers of myth, like Hesiod and
, Homer), as Aristotle would call them. Thus, in this context, philosophy could be said to
have begun with the philomythoi and the pre-Socratics. Let me briefly explain the
difference between the philomythoi and the Pre-Socratics’ way of philosophizing.
On the one hand, the philomythoi addressed the question concerning Being through
their mythical songs. According to Werner Marx, through the mythical songs of the
philomythoi, the great and terrifying powers that formed and ruled the cosmos came to
light and shone forth in the brilliance of the beautiful and the terror of the numinous. In
other words, the philomythoi 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 philomythoi and the Pre-
Socratics in this case) found the cosmos or Nature to be mysterious. For example, it’s
difficult for the ancient people to make sense of darkness, lightning, the four seasons,
the, and the like. But as records show, they attempted to explain the mysteriousness of
these phenomena, and, in doing so, the philomythoi used their mythical songs and
poems. Concrete example to 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 (saying and singing) of the philomythoi, a whole meaningful order arose out of
the darkness that had shrouded all-that-is (Being). In other words, it is through their
mythical songs and poems that the philomythoi was able to make sense of the
mysteriousness of the world.
Lastly, the philomythoi in awe and wonder felt themselves as simply servants or
instruments or and voices of the powers about which they sang. In other words, the
philomythoi believed 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 do not come
to thoughts; thoughts come to us”.
The pre-Socratics, on the other hand, addressed the question concerning Being through
reason. Hence, it was with the pre-Socratics that reason was first used in 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
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