Existential socialization

Daniel Dahlstrom

pp. 329-346

in: Hans Pedersen, Megan Altman (eds), Horizons of authenticity in phenomenology, existentialism, and moral psychology, Berlin, Springer, 2015

Abstract

Heidegger's Being and Time is not typically included on the list of twentieth century philosophical texts that would be considered fertile ground for social theory. This omission is not surprising, given Heidegger's emphasis on the singular indexicality ("I" and "you") of human existence and on the authenticity of anticipating a death that cannot be shared. If this emphasis does not reduce social dimensions to second-order existential phenomena, it seems at least to overshadow any existential significance they might have. This paper argues that any such overshadowing is more stylistic than substantive in nature, particularly if the existential analysis of being-with in Being and Time is given its due and is viewed in conjunction with the analysis of the role of language in human existence, to be found in Heidegger's 1924 lectures on Aristotle. The aim of this paper is to articulate the outline of a social theory, in light of these arguably complementary analyses.

Cited authors

Heidegger Martin