Abstract
Abstract This essay examines the relationship between academic and public philosophy through the lens of Heidegger studies. Specifically, this essay: shows how Heidegger uses technical terminology within the context of the academy to break new philosophical ground; explains how suitably clarified technical terminology can be used to introduce people to Heidegger’s philosophy and to apply Heidegger’s ideas to current affairs; and illustrates how the application of Heidegger’s ideas to contemporary issues results in new forms of academic research. Ultimately, this essay argues that there is a dialectical relationship between academic and public philosophy: i.e., public philosophy translates esoteric ideas developed in the academy into publicly accessible prose and then applies those ideas to daily life; but in doing so, public philosophy inspires new lines of academic inquiry.
Highlights
This essay examines the relationship between academic and public philosophy through the lens of Heidegger studies
I highlight the dialectical relation between academic expertise and public philosophy
Heidegger’s unorthodox use of ‘Dasein’ as a technical term for ‘human being’ allows him to circumvent misunderstandings that come when words like ‘essence’ and ‘subject’ are applied to humans, and it helps him demonstrate that the being of entities is determined by the various ways humans exist in the world around them
Summary
Heidegger’s stated aim in Being and Time is to “work out the question of the meaning of Being.” (Heidegger, 1962, p. 19, §1). Heidegger uses ‘Dasein’ for ‘human being’ to indicate the connection between being (Sein) and human being (Dasein) In doing so, he paves the way for his claim that the being of an entity, say, that and what a hammer is, is determined by a distinctly human way of being, in this case, carpentry. Heidegger’s unorthodox use of ‘Dasein’ as a technical term for ‘human being’ allows him to circumvent misunderstandings that come when words like ‘essence’ and ‘subject’ are applied to humans, and it helps him demonstrate that the being of entities is determined by the various ways humans exist in the world around them.. Like all academic jargon, Heidegger’s seemingly nonsensical use of Dasein, Gestell, and Bestand is designed to provide specialists with a deeper understanding of the phenomenon they are studying
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