• Format
  • Publications (documents)
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  • Text
• Source institution
  • Western Carolina University
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  • HL_WesternCarolinian_1989-02-23_Vol54_No20_05

The Western Carolinian Page 5 How to Be Human by Sandra Erickson In answer to Sartre's question on how to restore the meaning of the word humanism, Heidegger contends that the urge to provide terminology is a consequence of the decadence of language, and of the scientifi- cization of thinking with its tendency to classify, categorize, and give logical explanations and validation even to phenomena which are outside the competence of logic. The fundamental task, for Heidegger, is to liberate language and with it to disclose the grounds in which being finally free to let it be. This search is not only philosophical, but poetic as well, because poetry is that which names Being and revives its sacred rituals through the preservation of myth. "The liberation of language from grammar into a more original essential framework is reserved for thought and poetic creation." The task of thinking is not merely to restore the meaning, or even the dignity of being, but to open up to what Heidegger calls the "quiet power of the possible." The possible, however, is not understood in terms of an act of existentia, but as being itself. In this sense, the human being is not essential. It is only "private existence," that is, its existenia depends upon subjectivity, and this dependence conceals the primordial "belonginess" to Being. "Before he speaks," Heidegger says, "man must first let himself be claimed again by Being, taking the risk that under this claim he will seldom have much to say. Only thus will the preciousness of its essence be once more bestowed upon the word, and upon man a home for dwelling in the truth of Being." Heidegger rejects Sartre's formula "existence precedes essence" and criticizes Sartre's definition of existentialism for two fundamental reasons: first, the account that humanism provides of being is not only too narrow, but it is deeply ingrained in metaphysics; secondly, this account aims at defining man's essence and interpreting his existenia for the sake of vindicating man's culture and civilization, rather than opening up a ground in which Being can unconceal itself, and enabling Being to undertake its "heroic resolution" which is the guardianship of Being under which a new destiny for being will be opened. With regard to the question of the priority of essence of existence, Heidegger points out that while it is true that metaphysics concerns itself with the beings in their being, it does not losophy, Marxism, and even Nietsche's thinking, because they are all grounded in a metaphysical context which concerns itself to the problematic of man's salvation. In spite of their differences in purpose and principle they all agree; "the humanitas of homo humanus is determined with regard to an already established interpretation of nature, history, world, and the ground of the world, that is, of being as a whole." Heidegger defines humanism as "meditating and caring, that man be human and not inhumane, 'inhuman,' that is, outside his essence." What is the essence of man, however, is a ouestion that humanism does not and cannot answer, because of its limited understanding of man as a rational animal, and because of it merely distinguishes man as one being among others. "Are we really on the right track toward the essence of man as long as we set him off as one living creature among others in contrast to plants, beasts, and God?" In answering this question, Heidegger confronts Sartre's formula and Sartre's definition of existentialism. He points out its narrowness in that in defining man as rational, "we abandon man to the essential realm of animalitas even if we fo not equate him with beasts but attribute a specific difference to him." This definition limits man's being to what he calls homos animalis, therefore denying his full dignity. "The question is not what comes first, essence or existence, but what is essence and what is existence. The answer to this question lies in language, the open field in which Being conceals itself. It is this possibility open to man that confers to him a special dignity among the other beings. It is language that makes it possible for man to respond in an organized way to his environment, to think things through, to uncover new environments, conquer new frontiers of thoughts, and to organize life in terms of possibilities. In language, man can experience the world in a very sophisticated way, he can be free to create, to fantasize, and, of course, come to terms with himself and the world. In language man dwells, and in dwelling he realizes his own Being, a being which "Alone is the 'world'." Heidegger says, "language is the home of Being." Language is not "the utterance of an organism, nor...the expression of a living thing. Nor can it be thought in an essentially correct way in terms of its symbolic character, perhaps not even in terms of the character of signification. Language is the lighting-concealing advent of Being itself." Language is a place where thinking, original thinking, is born, and is born out of a struggle between being and logos ("a gathering together"), a struggle that takes place outside as well as inside being as it strives to come forth to light. Yet language is not a property of man, it is part of his essence, an openness, distinguish between them or ask about "the truth of being itself." Therefore, humanism offers no grounds in which the mystery of being can come to light, because humanism does not ask about the relation of being to the essence of man. The metaphysical origin of humanism impedes the question by neither recognizing nor understanding it. Here too, the question of language if essential for, in its origins, the word humanitas (homo humanus) is simply opposite to homos barbarus. Again, the Greek word paidea was translated as education, and a distinction was made between those who had been "educated," possessing humanitas, and the barbarus, those lacking such education. The modern conception of humanism is concern for and advocacy of man's freedom as grounded in an inherent right to dignity. In this sense, Christianity a gift from Being itself. Man is not the lord of Being, but its shepherd. This possibility of the guardianship of Being, inherent in man's very essence, is what distinguishes man from the other beings as a higher being. This special dignity of man, and this special characteristic of his essence is what Heidegger refers to as Dasein. While Sartre defines man in terms of existence. Heidegger does it in terms of ex-sisting essence; and while Sartre stresses the priority of existentia over essentia, Heidegger stresses the ek-sistence of man in his substance. The ultimate phenomenon is Dasein, man's dwelling in his own essence. Heidegger makes a clear distinction between existentia and ek-sistence. While ek-sistence is the standing out in the truth of Being, existentia is the actualization of forms which existed previously as Ideas, a distinction already put forth by Plato and confirmed by Aristotle. In the light of this definition, humanism, as Sartre defines it, does not speak the to the full dignity of man because, as Heidegger points out, the essential worth of man does not consist of his being the substance of beings, "as the 'Subject' among them, so that as the tyrant of Being he may design to release the beingness of beings into an all too loudly bruited 'objectivity'." What is essential in determining the humanity of man as ek-sistence is not man but Being. Man's importance comes only insofar as he is the shepherd of Being, that is, the opening in which Being from time to time chose to unconceal itself, to give itself as a gift and to simultaneously withdraw from it. From this standpoint, Heidegger accepts Sartre's definition of existentialism as a kind of humanism only insofar as it "thinks the humanity of man from the nearness to Being. It is a humanism...in which not man but man's historical essence is at stake in its provenance from the truth of Being." It is man's existence as such that is detrimental, but his dwell in the nearness of Being. This dwell is the fundamental phenomenon of man's existence for it is through this dwell that he fulfills his destiny as the guardian of Being. Yet the task of guarding Being against the wolves has not been performed well. Throughout history, the sacred temple of language has been sacked. With the advent of logic, the development and instutionalization of grammar and the special needs in the area of communication that modern civilization brings about, language is no longer a place to celebrate the rituals of Being and the uniqueness of its givennessis recreated— the house of truth of Being—but merely an instrument of mass manipulation: "language surrenders itself to our mere willing and trafficking as an instrument of domination oveibeings." this downfall of language represents a threaiof dehumanization as man, the shepherd of Being closes to himself the gate of the house of being becoming a homeless in his own grounds. Language is degraded to merely make things accessible to everyone a car we take to get in a certain place at a certairtime...It is no longer a place for creative thinking but of the objectifica- tion of being, another item of today's consumer society. "The widely and rapidly spreading devastation of language not only undermines aesthetic and moral responsibility in every use of language; it arises from a threat to the essence of humanity." The fundamental difference between Sartre's and Heidegger's Existentialism is well illustrated in Sartre's play, "No Exit." Sartre takes the Nietzschean view in which existence is defined in terms of will. "A man is what he wills himself to be," Garcinnihilistically philosophizes. This view would never be expressed by Heidegger, to whom man is the opening in which Being unreveals itself, and for whom man is the dweller: "Human being consists in dwelling and, indeed, dwelling in the sense of the stay of mortals on the earth" (Heidegger). While Sartre's view of existence is a pessimistic one, where there is no way out, or transcendence, of the miseries of existence, Heidegger views existence as a noble gift of Being who destined man to freedom. Though recognizing the absurdities of existence, Heidegger does not despair, because for him, it is possible to change existence through what he calls "heroic resolution." Sartre's view of destiny as something ultimately willed by individuals leads to a deterministic conception of man, life, and an existence in which men "prefer to choose [his] own hell," and Hell, as Garcin defines it, "is—other people." If man is what he wills to be, choosing one's hell means choosing other's as well, as well illustrated throughout "No Exit." Heideggerian existentialism does not admit hell; it is not fatalistic. On the contrary, existence is not a condemnation to which man destines himself, and in which fellow human beings are sadistic torturers. Life is a constant dwelling worth pursuing, and conviviality, brotherhood is an essential part of the essence of man itself. Heidegger describes existence as a poetic event in the history of the world, and man's dwelling there as a craft. It is essential that man fulfills his essence by reaching out to others. While Sartre sees communication with other beings as a hellish torture, for Heidegger it is in this possibility of language that man's humanity resides. Man cannot fulfill himself in any other way but through language, that is reaching out to Being and to beings. In this reaching out, even the language of the body itself is fundamental. "The hand reaches and extends itself, and receives and welcomes—and not just things: The hand holds. The hands carries...Two hands fold into one, a gesture meant to carry man into the great oneness." Heidegger, however, recognizes that the present state of things is chaotic, and that man has undergone a process of deep dehumanization. Man banished the gods, raped the earth, polluted the sky, sold his soul to Mammon. This does not happen because man necessarily irreversibly willed it, but because in dwelling, man errs. It is necessary that he, reflecting on his errors, take the heroic resolution to change his existential project, setting ine coordinate to the destination of freedom, of Dasein, which is human destiny. "True, this course of events seems to demand rather that man should act without delay, instead of making speeches at conferences and international conventions and never getting beyond proposing ideas on what ought to be, and how it ought to be done. What is lacking is action." Perhaps Sartre's pessimism results from his conception of the universe in terms of existence. If the facts of existence are Thursday, February 23,1989 to guide one's conception of man and life, it is easy to understand and accept Sartre's existentialism. Yet, if, on the other hand, not the facts of existence, but instead, we are to be guided by the possibilities inherent on it, one cannot help retaining faith in existence, and despite the odds, continue to dwell towards a time in which man will achieve his destination, that is, open himself to Dasein and become the ground of freedom letting be. In that sense, Heidegger is deterministic, for we are destined to Dasein, to dwell in the grounds of freedom to become ourselves the ground of Being. "The essential is the right time, the right moment, and the right perseverence." Though it is true that in our age we are homeless, detracted from our true essence, the possibility to come back to tneir nouse ot being is open to us. There is an exit. The way out is made possible by language, the bridge between man and the divinities. Language is the exit out of the present state of things. In it lies our ultimate salvation, for it is only in language that thinking can be recreated. Language is the primeval mud, and it is up to us to take that mud and recreate the creatures that we may have been destined, if not to be, perhaps to become. The Western Carolinian is available free of charge at these locations: IN CULLOWHEE: Brenda's Mini Mart Cullowhee Quick Stop El Gato's Riverhouse Sidz Townhouse Restaurant *WCU CAMPUS: Academic Buildings, Cafeterias, Dorms Hinds University Center Ramsey Regional Activity Center IN SYLVA: A&P City Lites Harold's Supermarket Harold's Galaxy Food Center Located On 342 West Main Street, Sylva, North Carolina. Phone: 586-4073 We reserve the right to limit quantities and limit sales to vendon. This ad Is effective week of Feh. 22 ■ Feb. 26, 1989. We honor limited "Double Value" on coupons. We welcome WIC Vouchers and Federal Food Stamps. The Freshest Meats The Freshest Meats BAHAMA ADVENTURE ORGANIZER COES .FREE SPRING BREAK SPECIAL YOU HAVE YOUR OWN SA.l.£OAT] WITH CAPTAIN, SAIL TO NASSAU, SLAND HOPPING. BOAT LEAVES MIAMI, FL. 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The Western Carolinian is Western Carolina University’s student-run newspaper. The paper was published as the Cullowhee Yodel from 1924 to 1931 before changing its name to The Western Carolinian in 1933.

• Creator
  • Western Carolina University
• Format
  • Publications (documents)
• Type
  • Text
• Date
  • Date original: 1989-02-23
  • Date digitized: 2019-09-12
• Extent
  • Dimension: 22.75" x 14.25"
  • Pages: 14 pages
• Subject - Topic
  • College student newspapers and periodicals
  • Cullowhee (N.C.) -- Newspapers
  • Universities and colleges -- North Carolina -- Cullowhee -- Newspapers
• Location
  • Jackson County (N.C.)
  • Cullowhee (N.C.)
• Source institution
  • Western Carolina University
• Source Collection
  • WCU Students Newspapers Collection
• Identifier
  • HL_WesternCarolinian_1989-02-23_Vol54_No20
• Repository
  • Western Carolina University Hunter Library