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Death and das Man: Authenticity in Heidegger's being and time.

Leonard, S.; (2005) Death and das Man: Authenticity in Heidegger's being and time. Masters thesis , University of London. Green open access

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Abstract

This dissertation is an examination of Heidegger's account of authenticity in Being and Time within the context of his phenomenological project of a fundamental ontology of being. The role of authenticity within Heidegger's unfinished fundamental ontological project of the meaning of being is related primarily to two major concepts: death and das Man (the They). Heidegger starts by investigating the phenomena of our average everyday existence in order to determine the existential- ontological structures that underlie and make possible our being. The question of being towards which Heidegger is directed requires an analysis of the only being that understands what it means to be, human being (Dasein). Dasein is the only available access we have to the understanding of being, and thus it is necessary to undertake an analysis of both Dasein's understanding and its own being. To understand Dasein as a whole, however, we must also take death into account. As a being that projects its possibilities, Dasein is only a totality when its possibilities end with death. However, everyday Dasein, as absorbed in the They, has an inauthentic attitude towards death and its own being, and does not understand its being as it really is. Being-towards- death is an ontological structure that, when lived authentically, allows Dasein to grasp itself as a whole. This thesis will review the place of these ideas in Being and Time, as well as address criticisms of Heidegger's work in order to determine whether we can ultimately accept his account of authenticity.

Type: Thesis (Masters)
Title: Death and das Man: Authenticity in Heidegger's being and time.
Identifier: PQ ETD:594107
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
Language: English
Additional information: Thesis digitised by Proquest
UCL classification: UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of Arts and Humanities > Dept of Philosophy
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1446377
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