Fundamental Ontology
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

In ''
Being and Time ''Being and Time'' () is the 1927 ''magnum opus'' of German philosopher Martin Heidegger and a key document of existentialism. ''Being and Time'' had a notable impact on subsequent philosophy, literary theory and many other fields. Though controv ...
'', the philosopher
Martin Heidegger Martin Heidegger (; 26 September 1889 – 26 May 1976) was a German philosopher known for contributions to Phenomenology (philosophy), phenomenology, hermeneutics, and existentialism. His work covers a range of topics including metaphysics, art ...
makes the distinction between ontical and
ontological Ontology is the philosophical study of being. It is traditionally understood as the subdiscipline of metaphysics focused on the most general features of reality. As one of the most fundamental concepts, being encompasses all of reality and every ...
, or between ''beings'' and ''being'' as such. He labeled this the "ontological difference." It is from this distinction that he develops the concept of fundamental ontology (). The history of ontology in
Western philosophy Western philosophy refers to the Philosophy, philosophical thought, traditions and works of the Western world. Historically, the term refers to the philosophical thinking of Western culture, beginning with the ancient Greek philosophy of the Pre ...
is, in Heidegger's terms, ontical, whereas ''ontology'' ought to designate fundamental ontology. He says this "ontological inquiry" is required to understand the basis of the sciences.Martin Heidegger, ''Being and Time'', §3.


Ontological difference

Traditional ontology asks "Why is there anything?", whereas Heidegger's fundamental ontology asks, "What does it mean for something to be?", writes Taylor Carman (2003). Carman elaborates: Heidegger's fundamental ontology is relevant to traditional ontology in that it concerns "What any understanding of entities necessarily presupposes, namely, our understanding of that in virtue of which entities are entities?" This ontological difference () is central to Heidegger's philosophy. In his 1937 " Contributions to Philosophy" Heidegger described it as "''the'' essence of
Dasein "Dasein" (; ) is a term in the philosophy of Martin Heidegger. Adopted from the ordinary German word meaning "existence", Heidegger used it to refer to the mode of being that he believed is particular to human beings. A being that is aware of an ...
," where "Dasein" refers to a being (such as the human) for whom the meaning of being is itself an issue.Contributions to Philosophy (Of the Event), 2012, p. 369. He accuses the Western philosophical tradition of incorrectly focusing on the "ontic"—and thus ''forgetful'' of this distinction. This has led to the mistake of understanding ''being'' (as such) as a kind of ultimate entity, for example as
idea In philosophy and in common usage, an idea (from the Greek word: ἰδέα (idea), meaning 'a form, or a pattern') is the results of thought. Also in philosophy, ideas can also be mental representational images of some object. Many philosophe ...
, '' energeia'', ''substantia'', or
will to power The will to power () is a concept in the philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche. The will to power describes what Nietzsche may have believed to be the main driving force in humans. However, the concept was never systematically defined in Nietzsche's ...
. According to
Richard Rorty Richard McKay Rorty (October 4, 1931 – June 8, 2007) was an American philosopher, historian of ideas, and public intellectual. Educated at the University of Chicago and Yale University, Rorty's academic career included appointments as the Stu ...
, Heidegger envisioned no "hidden power of Being" as an ultimate entity.. Heidegger tries to rectify ontic philosophy by focusing instead on the ''meaning of being'', that is, fundamental ontology. This "ontological inquiry" is required to understand the basis of the sciences, according to ''
Being and Time ''Being and Time'' () is the 1927 ''magnum opus'' of German philosopher Martin Heidegger and a key document of existentialism. ''Being and Time'' had a notable impact on subsequent philosophy, literary theory and many other fields. Though controv ...
'' (1927). Fundamental ontology is the result of
Heidegger Martin Heidegger (; 26 September 1889 – 26 May 1976) was a German philosopher known for contributions to phenomenology, hermeneutics, and existentialism. His work covers a range of topics including metaphysics, art, and language. In April ...
's decision to re-interpret
phenomenology Phenomenology may refer to: Art * Phenomenology (architecture), based on the experience of building materials and their sensory properties Philosophy * Phenomenology (Peirce), a branch of philosophy according to Charles Sanders Peirce (1839â ...
, as developed earlier by his mentor
Edmund Husserl Edmund Gustav Albrecht Husserl (; 8 April 1859 – 27 April 1938) was an Austrian-German philosopher and mathematician who established the school of Phenomenology (philosophy), phenomenology. In his early work, he elaborated critiques of histori ...
. According to Heidegger, the phenomenological project required new terminology and a redefinition of traditional concepts. For instance, the thesis that a
phenomenon A phenomenon ( phenomena), sometimes spelled phaenomenon, is an observable Event (philosophy), event. The term came into its modern Philosophy, philosophical usage through Immanuel Kant, who contrasted it with the noumenon, which ''cannot'' be ...
is the
essence Essence () has various meanings and uses for different thinkers and in different contexts. It is used in philosophy and theology as a designation for the property (philosophy), property or set of properties or attributes that make an entity the ...
of a thing could not be articulated solely with traditional concepts and terms. In fact, Heidegger consistently refused to use these concepts in their Husserlian senses. Moreover, Heidegger went on to separate his fundamental ontology from previous ontologies. Heidegger wrote that clarifying the meaning of being is required for the basis of all fields of science. For Heidegger, the ontical forms of research conducted by scientists presuppose the fundamental-ontological. As he expresses it:
The question of Being aims… at ascertaining the ''a priori'' conditions not only for the possibility of the sciences which examine beings as beings of such and such a type, and, in doing so, already operate with an understanding of Being, but also for the possibility of those ontologies themselves which are prior to the ontical sciences and which provide their foundations. ''Basically, all ontology, no matter how rich and firmly compacted a system of categories it has at its disposal, remains blind and perverted from its ownmost aim, if it has not first adequately clarified the meaning of Being, and conceived this clarification as its fundamental task''.
In Husserl's definition, "phenomenon" appeared comprehensive and sufficient for his philosophical ventures. But Heidegger saw room for new development. By shifting the priority from consciousness (psychology) to existence (ontology), Heidegger opened a new direction for phenomenological inquiry.


See also

*
Foundation ontology In information science, an upper ontology (also known as a top-level ontology, upper model, or foundation ontology) is an ontology (in the sense used in information science) that consists of very general terms (such as "object", "property", "rel ...
* '' Kehre'' *
Meta-ontology Metaontology or meta-ontology is the study of the field of inquiry known as ontology. The goal of meta-ontology is to clarify what ontology is about and how to interpret the meaning (philosophy), meaning of ontological claims. Different meta-ontol ...
*
Ontotheology Ontotheology () is the ontology of God and/or the theology of being. While the term was first used by Immanuel Kant, it has only come into broader philosophical parlance with the significance it took for Martin Heidegger's Late Heidegger, later thou ...


Notes


References

* Heidegger, Martin (1997). ''Kant and the Problem of Metaphysics''. * Heidegger, Martin (1988). ''Basic Problems of Phenomenology''. * Heidegger, Martin (2010). ''Being and Time''. {{Martin Heidegger Philosophical categories 20th century in philosophy Phenomenology Ontology Philosophy of Martin Heidegger