Speaking of Heidegger, anyone who knows his "Being and Time" will generally stay away from it. This book is too difficult, basically incomprehensible, and it mainly talks about the "existence" issue that is very cutting-edge in philosophy. Although it points to everyone's survival, it can only be shelved because it is difficult to understand.

Despite this, contemporary philosophy cannot avoid this philosopher, so we might as well try to talk about Heidegger and existence, not for a deep understanding, but to get some inspiration from it.

Originally, the tradition of Western philosophy is rational and likes to clarify principles through definitions (concepts). The earliest one is Socrates' famous saying: "Virtue is knowledge." Understanding virtue from the knowledge level, the so-called Knowledge is analysis in detail and making quantitative or qualitative judgments. But Heidegger did not define "being". The entire "Being and Time" seems to be talking about the issue of existence, but there is no clear definition of existence. This is reminiscent of Chinese Confucianism. The entire Analects of Confucius talks about benevolence, but does not give a clear definition. The same is true for Taoism. Therefore, we can only say that it exists descriptively.

It is the characteristic of existentialism to talk about existence without defining it. Philosophers such as Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, and Sartre are fighting against the purely rational way of understanding the world, but using The way of "being" describes human existence. When it comes to people, Heidegger basically does not mention people in his works, because to call people people is to objectify and objectify people, so that people are no longer people. Heidegger calls human beings "Dasein".

This Dasein, we must first understand "being", that is, existence. Existence is not an empty abstract concept, but something that everyone is immersed in up to their necks, and in fact, even their heads are not included in it. thing. Existence is a field, an interconnected field that includes people. This field is the field of the self, but the self is not the center of the field, the self is only in the field. It can be understood in this way. For example, I am a teacher of the literary and comprehensive group of Yuncheng International. If I hear someone talking about Yuncheng International on the street, this is related to my field, and I will definitely pay attention. If I hear someone talking about Yuncheng International again, I will pay attention to it. , that is simply talking about me. If it comes to philosophy, it seems to be calling my name, and I will be highly sensitive. The reason why I reacted like this is because it touched the field of my existence, that is, it directly hit my existence. This kind of field can better reflect the state of my existence and the essential characteristics of human beings. But in this field, I am not the center, I just exist in this field.

This field is in a state of change and is not an entity with fixed attributes. Nor am I a person with essential attributes. In existential thinking, I will have some characteristics, which are "mine". These characteristics of mine permeate the scene, but they are not me. I stand outside myself and transcend myself. This is existence. Human existence is not some inner quality in the skin, but a process of expanding outward to build a world of care.

Ordinary people, Heidegger calls them ordinary people, are afraid of this ever-changing existence. Instead, they fix themselves in a state, label themselves, and become a fixed state. Beings are equivalent to the beings of a thing, thus avoiding the risks and anxiety of existence. Heidegger calls this state sinking. Fromm also talked about this topic in "Escape from Freedom". People are born free, but free people are lonely and face risks alone. This requires strong power. Many people are afraid of this situation, so they escape Human freedom seeks protection by hiding under the collective or a certain authority, and would rather endure oppression and lose dignity.

There are three basic modalities of human existence, which are also three categories of existence: emotion, understanding, and language.

Emotions are not mine, but permeate the field of human existence. The fundamental emotion of human existence is anxiety. The so-called anxiety is the planning of future events, the planning of facing nothingness (death) .

To understand is to understand existence, to understand this anxiety, to understand the unfolding nature of Dasein. Without this unfolding nature, Dasein cannot exist, because to exist is to transcend itself and walk into what is unfolding in front of it. in the world.

Language is the home of our existence. Before people express, they are already in a certain field. Language reveals the existence of Dasein. Language is existence itself.

I talked about the existence of Dasein (human) before, that is, the existence of some modalities. Next, I will dwell on the "here" of Dasein and talk about the temporality of existence. Heidegger named his book about existence "Being and Time", indicating that existence and time are inseparable. Dasein is a distant creature, always outside himself, and every moment of his existence is open to the future. The future is "not yet" and the past is "no longer". No longer and not yet permeate existence, and Dasein can barely be counted as the current "here and now". However, this "here and now" is moving towards "not yet", which is also the intention of naming people "here and now" location. Dasein is Dasein in time, and human anxieties, fears, worries, concerns, etc. are all in time.

The poet Pope has a poem that can express existence very well: "Man has never been, but always will be."

Heidegger talks about existence, which is irrational and should not be avoided. Return to the rational path of Socrates and Descartes, that is, isolate the object from the existing field around it and conduct isolated research. Heidegger said: "Only when we finally realize that reason, which has been praised for centuries, is actually the most stubborn enemy of thought, will it be possible for us to think."

Today's The times, especially the prevalence of scientism, have separated people (Dasein) from the field of existence and lost their intimate relationship with the things around them. Heidegger believes that people should stand on the earth (in the field of existence), Drawing infinite nourishment from it, this is Dasein's orientation toward the not-yet-being.