Finding the self through meaninglessness: anxiety in Heidegger's Being and Time

Abstract

Heidegger's Being and Time differs greatly in its emotive focus from the usual Western ontological philosophy. Whereas the ontological tradition had long considered persons to be fundamentally rational and dependent on logic for self-awareness, Heidegger stood apart in his focus on the importance of moods in the understanding of both the self and the world in which it is oriented. For Heidegger, the source of all knowledge is to be found in the disclosure or Erschlossenheit of Dasein as being-in-the-world. This awareness of oneself is realised in various ways, and while logic is one form of disclosure, Heidegger determined moods to be a more primordial and widely applicable kind.