Abstract

The goal of this conclusion is to contrast the notion of destruction with the notion of worlding in order to show that there is a fundamental "richness" and "vitality" in factical life, to use Heidegger's own words, that must be countenanced together with-and not, even in authenticity, separated out from-its negativity and fallenness. First, it looks at a fundamental confusion that persists in Heidegger research regarding how he understands the worldly nature of Dasein, and then it argues that to read destruction as a kind of choice or binary opposition between two different ways of life goes against some of Heidegger's deepest impulses as a philosopher. It then takes up the notion of worlding, and it looks at facticity in Being and Time. It attempts to demonstrate the intimate connection between authenticity and inauthenticity within the factical life of Dasein. Together, these modes of Dasein's Being constitute its essential ambiguity and thus present a meaningful and nuanced sense of human life. Authenticity is not simply a matter of destroying or overcoming human fallenness, but, together with fallenness, it is a moment of revelation (kairos) through insight (phronesis) into who the human being is as a whole.

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