Blackwell Reference Online

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German philosopher. From the start of his career Heidegger defined his project as answering the question: What is the meaning of being? This metaphysical concern was motivated by the conviction that the dominant movements at the turn of the century – naturalism and Kantian theories of science ( see NATURALISM ; KANT ) – are loaded down with uncritical assumptions about reality and our place in it. Traditional epistemology assumes: (1) a picture of the self as essentially a mind or subject trying to correctly represent objects in the external world (the subject/object model), and (2) a conception of our everyday beliefs as needing a philosophical account to show how they are possible (foundationalism). Heidegger's phenomenology ( see PHENOMENOLOGY ) of average everydayness – the description of everyday agency prior to reflection and theorizing – aims at dissolving the assumptions built into epistemology. According to this description, Dasein (or human existence) is “being-in-the-world,” a unified totality consisting of practical “dealings” with things and the meaningful equip-mental contexts of the familiar life-world. This “unified phenomenon” is revealed in Heidegger's description of hammering in a workshop. When everything is running smoothly in such activities, what initially shows up for us is not a brute hammer-thing invested with a use, but rather “hammering” which is ... log in or subscribe to read full text