20 17, 90 years after the publication of Being and Time, many different forms of commemorative activities have been organized by both the eastern and western academic circles and the people, and academic papers with this theme have emerged continuously. It must be said that up to now, few pure philosophical works have such an effect, which can make professional researchers and general readers miss it so much, and even less in the form of special events. Existence and Time has been published in its native language, German, since it was first published in 1927, with an average of 19 editions, and it is reprinted every four to five years. The number of its translations into foreign languages is quite amazing. It is reported that this book has been translated in the mainstream languages of the world. With this book, the author Heidegger also became one of the greatest philosophers in the 20th century. Even in the whole history of western philosophy, Heidegger is fully qualified to be juxtaposed with giants such as Plato, Aristotle, Descartes, Kant and Hegel, because of his lifelong philosophical exploration and his pioneering and far-reaching philosophical thinking mode.
From the point of view of readers in China, since 1987 published the first complete Chinese translation, it has been revised and reprinted several times. Before this, although there was no complete translation, the study and discussion about this book had already prevailed in the professional field. Although Heidegger's fame is increasing day by day, many people may not have a real chance to read his works. This situation is somewhat similar to the reality that Heidegger himself faced in the early 1920s. Although Being and Time has not been published, his influence has long been deeply rooted in his student circle. The publication of Existence and Time, in the words of its student and enthusiast Arendt, "the success of this book only confirms what they already know about this teacher." ?
It can be said that in the 1980s and 1990s, among the slightly knowledgeable college students, it was a rather shameful accident that they didn't understand existence and time. In contrast, although the Chinese version of Being and Nothing was one year earlier than Being and Time, Sartre became a hot philosophical star of that era. But now who is seriously studying Sartre or reading Being and Nothingness? On the other hand, Being and Time certainly had a period of fanaticism at the beginning, but it was still explored after the fanaticism. According to many scholars who have now entered the ranks of middle-aged and elderly people, the discussion about existence and time has become a fashion in the last two decades of the last century, which is similar to that of young artists discussing some "must-read books", which may determine whether you can successfully integrate into certain target groups. Words must be called Heidegger, and words must be said. Being and Time became a grand occasion at that time, and now many scholars active in the field of philosophy admit that they have benefited a lot from this book.
In this way, the China world has long known the existence and time, and once you really become its reader, the legend about the influence of books will convince you immediately. This book will subvert your inherent impression of western philosophy in writing, conception and wording. Another charm of this book is that it is difficult enough. This kind of "difficulty" can easily catch the eye of people who love philosophy from the beginning. Because people who love philosophy usually have strong logical ability and speculative spirit, but when they encounter difficult things, they maintain a kind of excitement in their posture. Just like mountaineers, they always want to challenge the highest Mount Everest. Therefore, since 1927, various factors have mixed together to create the extraordinary influence of this book, which has been popularized and expanded over time, and finally achieved its worldwide status.
But I have to say that such a famous work is actually an unfinished work. According to Heidegger's original intention, this book should have two parts. The first part: explain this existence according to temporality, and explain that time is a transcendental vision of existing problems; The second part: An overview of the phenomenological analysis of ontology history based on the problem of time state. These two parts are divided into three parts according to the needs of content structure. In fact, Existence and Time only belong to the first two parts of the first part of the plan, and the third part, Time and Existence, and the whole second part failed to arrive as scheduled. Although the first article in the second book, Kant's Model and Time Theory-the Forerunner of Putting forward the Problem of Time State, is regarded as the fuse for the publication of Kant's book 1929, even so, the originally planned Being and Time has not been finally completed. And it is more or less accidental to say that this book can be published in 1927. Heidegger was forced to publish a monograph in the name of a professor, so Being and Time, which took three months to publish, was sent to the Ministry of Education for review. I don't know whether the Ministry of Education didn't know the goods or other reasons, but the reply was "insufficient". It was not until six months after the publication of Existence and Time that the Ministry of Education was forced to award him the title of full professor because of its earth-shattering influence. Although prepared, the book was finally completed in a hurry, and the traces left by this hurry can also be clearly felt in the last chapter of Being and Time.
It is such a seemingly incomplete and somewhat random book that has influenced almost the whole 20th century, and it seems that it is somewhat "unintentional". And with the breadth and depth of its problems, this influence has penetrated the wall of history and touched the foundation of the whole western philosophy since ancient Greece, and has lasted for nearly a century since its publication. The appearance of Being and Time profoundly interprets the meaning of "classic", that is, the real classic must touch and inspire the tradition, present and future.
Unconventional exploration method
As far as the content is concerned, the book Being and Time can be divided into two parts, namely, the Preparatory Analysis of Being and Timeliness, which is the basic framework for Heidegger to arrange this book. Before introducing the specific content, it is necessary to talk about the methods used in the book and the problems you finally want to solve.
As far as the method is concerned, Heidegger clearly pointed out in the seventh section of Being and Time that he used the "phenomenological" method. Phenomenology originated from Husserl. Although it has a mentoring relationship with Heidegger, both of them adhere to the slogan put forward by phenomenology: "Face things themselves". However, their understanding of phenomenology is quite different. It is the difference in understanding this method that fully embodies Heidegger's originality in philosophy, and this novelty made him choose a different approach from traditional philosophy from the beginning, so that he almost redefined or even completely abandoned "philosophy" in the later ideological development.
Generally speaking, phenomenology is to suspend all unproven concepts and fictional problems and find an unquestionable foundation for philosophy by suspension. Husserl's main academic pursuit is to make philosophy a strict science. However, on the issues of what should be suspended and what is the real thing itself, teachers and apprentices gradually disagree. Husserl constructs the world from reduction to consciousness and pure consciousness. Simply put, consciousness is intentionality, that is, any consciousness is the consciousness of "something", so the reference to consciousness must be accompanied by the related image objects. This kind of intentional structure breaks through the barrier of subjective philosophy, because it can connect the inside with the outside, the subject with the object. The task of phenomenology is not only to restore, but also to find the construction structure of the world on the basis of reduction. Husserl thinks that he has reached a place where there is no premise as the starting point of philosophy through essential reduction and transcendental reduction. Starting from this place, "the world is regarded as the sum of related items of consciousness achievement, and all objective meaning construction and existence effectiveness are based on consciousness as transcendental subjectivity."
In contrast, Heidegger's understanding of phenomenology comes directly from ancient Greece. He believes that phenomenology is composed of "phenomenon" (φ α ι ν ο μ ε ν) and "logos" (λ ο γ ο ζ, that is, "learning"). Since "phenomenon" comes from the verb Φ α ι ν ε σ α ι (manifestation), "phenomenon" actually refers to "what appears". And "logos" is no longer the traditional "reason", it is "discourse". The function of discourse is to "show something". What is the real discourse to show? Speaking is a kind of display. So here, the meaning of "phenomenology" boils down to "understanding the appearance (display) of things." Such phenomenology no longer appeals to pure consciousness, not to the structure of the manifest in consciousness, but to "say" it in the face of the manifest itself and in terms of its appearance. How does the manifester appear? What is asked here is no longer the appearance itself, but the appearance, the appearance and the "how" of the appearance. Such a problem, in Heidegger's view, is a problem. So phenomenology finally asks existence, not existence.
Heidegger clearly distinguishes existence from existence, which is his "ontological difference" view, that is, existence is not existence. Traditional metaphysics always pays attention to existence, but ignores it. And he thinks that ontology, as knowledge to explore existence, is only possible as phenomenology. Throughout his life, he has been exploring the question of "existence", that is, what is existence? Only in Heidegger's view, such a way of asking questions is no longer correct. Because being cannot be asked, "What is this?" This is a metaphysical way of asking questions. Once we ask such a question, we just use one thing to explain another thing, but we don't say anything about it itself. For those who exist, we can ask them what they are, but for the existence itself, we can only ask the question of "how to exist", that is, the meaning of existence. Being in itself, he thinks this is the primary problem of philosophy.
To sum up, as far as the most fundamental difference between Husserl and Heidegger is concerned. In short, Husserl achieved pure consciousness through the method of "reduction", and took it as the absolute starting point to construct the world meaning, but Heidegger thought that this reduction ignored the existence meaning of consciousness. He not only thinks that Husserl completely ignores the fundamental problem of philosophy-existence, but also thinks that there is an irreversible existence, and its existence does not have the unchangeable essence, because its existence is only a possibility, and the essence of its whole existence lies in "existence", and this existence is always unfinished. This existence is "this is". Therefore, Heidegger is different from Husserl. He not only insisted on discussing the existing problems, but also took it as a starting point. Being and Time is the demonstration of this discussion process. Define the meaning of existence through the analysis of existence. I chose this existence not only for the above reasons, but also because this existence is the only one that can question existence. In other words, this is about existence, and existence is problematic for it. What's more, it can be said that the essence of this existence lies in "going to exist" and questioning existence. It is precisely because this is essentially "de-existence" and is essentially related to existence, so we can definitely get a glimpse of existence through the analysis of this existence.
The subtle and profound significance of existence
Being is the core concept in Being and Time. For a long time, it has been almost equated with the concept of "person". But in fact, "this is" is not what we usually call "people". Heidegger's analysis of "this being" is a formal analysis, which gives its structure in form, but does not prejudge anything. Therefore, it should be more accurate to say that "this is" is not "human" or "human is an existing thing". The practice of understanding existence through this analysis is called "basic ontology". The so-called "basic ontology" means that all ontologies should be based on this ontology, and the subsequent analysis Heidegger tries to make readers understand that the grasp of the meaning of existence is based on this analysis, and all understandings come from this. So the basic ontology is the job of finding the source.
The basic structure of this existence is considered to be "in the world", that is, this existence exists in the world. The so-called basic construction is a kind of presupposition, which is at the source of all origins, and you can't ask why. Here, the "world" is no longer a collection concept of space or things. In Heidegger's view, "world" is "overall meaning", that is, the meaning presented by all beings when dealing with it, and the overall relationship between meanings is the world. Existence can "meet" with this because it is open in itself, and this openness is based on this understanding of existence priority, that is, this understanding of existence priority from the beginning. Only with this understanding can this existence be an open "place" for all beings to get close to, that is, become understandable. Such as chairs and hammers, can only be understood as "tools" here, and "tools" are tools only when they are "sitting" or "knocking". Therefore, whether it is a "tool" or a "natural thing", it is meaningful and understandable only if it is ultimately related to it. This understandability is called openness, which is like opening a space where you can see the mystery. So this itself is this kind of openness, which Heidegger sometimes calls "Lichtung", that is, in a dense forest, only such an open space can let the light shine in and let the upcoming things appear here. Therefore, the "world" has become a space with overall opening significance here, and its extension can be said to be equal to the open space here, that is, the opening here is its world. The world is not always such an existing "thing", but a meaningful space opened with the opening of this existence in the process of "going to exist".
In this regard, as far as the world is always opened by dealing with "things" or other beings, this existence always exists in "troubles". "Worry" is not a state of mind, nor is it the usual worry, but the most basic style of this existence, which reflects nothing more than that it is always associated with other beings in the world. As the only existence that understands its own existence, its most basic style is worrying, that is, worrying about its own existence. It is troubled because it exists for it. Its existence can be divided into true and untrue, and the latter is called "sinking". If this existence always realizes its existence through other existence, then it will sink into the sink, and if it wants to return to its true existence, it must listen to the call of "conscience". This call will call this back to your most authentic existence and call back "fear." "Fear" is the most fundamental modality in this imagery modality. The so-called appearance modality is simply similar to people's emotions, but this emotion is not external, nor is it an emotion that changes all the time because of something. Appearance modality refers to the fundamental existence of this "emotion", which is the pre-existing basis (source) of all emotions. The modality of "fear" is different from "fear", which has "objectivity", that is, fear of this and fear of that. And fear has no object at all, it is a fear for no reason. This is the fear of existence itself. It is afraid of its own existence. This fear can call this back to its real existence. The way to recall is "make up your mind", just like someone makes up his mind to do something, or "make up his mind to study hard" or "make up his mind to lose weight" and so on. Only when he makes up his mind can he face his real existence and return to his true colors. It's just that Heidegger's "conscience", "determination" and "fear" here are not what we say every day, but originated from the ontological sense.
In fact, the first article of Existence and Time has been discussed a lot, and finally it is necessary to lead out the second article, that is, in the first article, through such analysis, we can find the "worry" as a whole structure, then divide the worry into time-based links, and finally explain the relationship between existence and time. But the appearance of time depends on the interpretation of "death". Functionally speaking, "death" and "fear" are similar, that is, both of them can return this to its real existence and make it complete in form. However, Heidegger did not lead to time through "fear", or, in the end, he did not go back and lay the foundation with time as fear. This is also worth noting.
The second chapter begins with the analysis of death. As an end, "death" is a definite possibility that "this is" cannot be transferred. In other words, death is certain, but when it will come is uncertain. There are two reasons to discuss death: first, death is the most fundamental and inevitable possibility here. In the face of this possibility, it can return to itself, that is, it can no longer "sink" in any other capacity in the face of death, and can no longer escape anonymously or blindly. There is no escape from death. So through death, this can return to its true existence. Secondly, death can be regarded as an end point and a complete whole in ontology, so it can be said to be a whole. Such a statement can ensure that there are no exceptions and that our ontology is complete and universally applicable.
In the first article, Heidegger has portrayed this as a "worry" structure as a whole, that is, the existence of this being is "worry", which is its most basic existence. This structure can be subdivided into three parts: practicality, survivability and destructiveness. First of all, practicality means "being thrown away" here. Being thrown away is the biggest reality we face. The so-called being thrown is that it exists in this world without foundation, it can't grasp its own source, it always exists, which it can't choose, just like a person can't choose his own birth, it is thrown into this world for no reason. Secondly, survival refers to the "planning" of this existence, which is to plan for one's own existence. Planning is to expand the "space" for your existence from beginning to end in the process of going to exist, which is the "world" mentioned above. It can only continue to exist if it is planned forward and an area has been abandoned. This kind of planning itself is always ahead of this, that is to say, this is the planning itself, it is ahead of itself, it is never what it is (only what is the objective thing, it has been finalized and has not changed), it is always a possibility to leave the present and move towards the future. So this is planned and uncertain. Finally, Shen refers to the current existing state of this being, that is, it has been "in ……" and has been existing through dealing with other creatures. Of course, this kind of transaction also includes other beings. In coping, it is entirely possible to lose yourself and indulge in things and others. The former is embodied in the worship of things, while the latter is embodied in the conformity of others or the attachment to other beings.
Obviously, the above three correspond to different styles of time, as follows: practicality, as an uncontrollable thing, was thrown into the "past" of this existence (Heidegger called it "once existed"); Survival is carried out in a "planning" way, pointing to the future; Sinking is the status quo of existence, which refers to the present. It is the three dimensions of time that connect this in all links, that is to say, only in the view of time can the existing "trouble" structure be connected into a meaningful whole. The key point is that this kind of time is different from the time generally thought, because the "past", "present" and "future" mentioned here have their special meanings.
For example, "the past" is not "gone", it doesn't exist, but it always exists in a state of being thrown away, and it always carries this thrown away attribute when it exists. Like many poor students, he had to be born with a disgraceful life, and even pride could not change that fact. The "future" is not without arrival, but it is guiding the direction that this existence wants to achieve from the beginning. Only when the future exists fundamentally can its existence be possible, that is to say, time is fundamentally open and forward, and with the future, everything is possible. The future in the true sense is connected with the past. That is, the most real future is to realize this in the most fundamental existence, and the most fundamental existence is only the possibility of realizing this existence, so the real future is to return to the past. Just like poor students want to create a real future, they don't run away from their birth, but accept it, bear it and finally return to it. It is not that he has returned to the state of "poverty", but that he regards his birth as an inseparable part of real life, accepts it in essence and returns to his original life. This existence, like life, only exists once, and there is no such thing as a real new life. It is impossible to stop a disgraceful life and start a new one. Real life is a consistent life, the future must be the past, and the past must be the future. And "now", as the present, as all beings, is divided into authenticity and non-authenticity. As its most essential attribute, the real present is not the real present, but sinking. This kind of sinking always puts itself in other things to understand its existence. This leads to the understanding of time always staying in the present, that is, taking time as a "river". The past no longer exists, and the future has not yet arrived, so we can only grasp the present. Any understanding of the past and the future must be transformed into the present. So now it is extended indefinitely, even forever. This kind of understanding is called "vulgar" by Heidegger. He believes that this understanding of time has dominated the whole western philosophy since ancient Greece. Only focus on the present, focus on the present, and the other two dimensions of time have not really been understood. Based on this view of time, the traditional understanding of "existence" is a kind of "eternity" and a kind of "presence", that is, existence is eternal before us. Such time is actually non-time, and eternity is the fundamental denial of time.
Heidegger's view of time discovered the essence of time, namely "explosion". The so-called bursting means that time is always divorced from itself, it is always a kind of "redundancy" and a kind of "surplus", that is, time is always changing, it does not stay at a certain moment, it is always jumping out of itself (similar to this). Real time is not a river that flows in turn, but when it arrives, that is, when the three dimensions of time are unified. "Then" is also called "opportunity". In other words, the real time is always expressed as "the clock time that we traditionally think only sees the rotation of the hour hand and the minute hand, but can't see the time itself and the essence of time." In contrast, Hyde Gogl believed that the ancients observed the sun and determined the time by its position. Although it lacks the so-called accuracy of modern physical time, it can better capture the essence of time. That is, the essence of time is to find your own opportunities in the process of self-emergence. So through the position of the sun, the ancients can know "it's time to cook" or "it's time to call it a day", and so on.
Time is constantly leaving itself, and it will come on its own in the process of leaving. As time goes on, different things will meet in time. Just like a stage, there are lights on it, the actors perform on stage in turn, and the audience enjoys the perfect performance under the stage. For the existing problems, this stage is time, which provides an occasion for all performances; Light (or this is the understanding of existence, that is to say, we know why there is) is existence; Actors are all kinds of beings, appearing on the stage in turn; Here comes the audience. However, it should be noted that the audience can watch the performance because they have long known about the "performance". Although they don't know exactly what to perform, they must have known that the performance needs stage, lighting, actors and so on. This is what I said before, and I have long understood the existence. This kind of understanding only becomes concrete and ready-made after seeing the stage (time) and letting the actors (beings) perform on the stage under the irradiation of "light" (beings themselves). In other words, there must be not only existence, but also a priori knowledge of existence, and all this is carried out in time. It is impossible to perform without time. All the scheduling, all the appearances, all the watching and cheering, etc. , all need time.
All these reflect the existential significance of Heidegger's view of time. In fact, here we can see Heidegger's good intentions in naming this book Being and Time. In fact, existence is time. Or more accurately, time provides a horizon for understanding existence, and only in the horizon of time can we grasp existence. Existence can exist in the past, the present and even the future, but it is precisely because the three dimensions of time belong to one, and existence at the same time can maintain its unity at different stages. This unity, and even the existence itself can be completely grasped, is based on time.
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It can be said that although Being and Time is not finished, it basically solves Heidegger's main problem, that is, it finally clarifies the meaning of existence. This clarification itself not only changed the long-standing tradition of western philosophy, including the distinction between being and being, but also corrected the concept of time. But also pointed out a new direction for the later development of philosophy. The content of the issues involved in Being and Time is quite rich, and the inspiration for later generations is obvious to all. For example, Heidegger's student Gadamer saw a new hermeneutic secret that had a far-reaching impact on later generations. Besides the "secret of existence" and hermeneutics, how many other secrets does this book contain? This requires every reader to explore with his own questions and enthusiastic thinking. As the saying goes, "A thousand readers have a thousand Hamlets". Are you sure you don't want to try such a great classic? Maybe you can have a new understanding!
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