Transcript Slide 1

Harrison Hagg
Buddhism
and
Being and Time by Martin Heidegger
April 6, 2011
Purpose
• To examine the differences and similarities
between Buddhism (especially the
“original” teachings found in Rahula) and
Being and Time by Martin Heidegger
• To gain a greater understanding of
ontology as presented by the two thinkers
• To elucidate one’s relationship to the world
according to each view
Brief Biography of Martin
Heidegger
• Born in Baden, Germany in
September 1889
• Worked at Marburg University then
Freiburg University
• Main influences- Edmund Husserl,
Aristotle, St. Augustine, and Soren
Kierkegaard
• His major work is Being and Time and
it is often considered one of the
greatest philosophical texts in the 20th
century (if not all time)
• Influenced thinkers like Jean Paul
Satre, Emmanuel Levinas, Jacques
Derrida, Bernard Stiegler, Michel
Foucault and many more
• Major influence on the movements of
Phenomenology and Existentialism
• Died in May of 1976 in Baden
Major Controversy
• Martin Heidegger was a Nazi.
• He actively participated in rallies and acquiesced to Nazi
requests to remove Jewish-German teachers and
students from Freiburg University.
• Heidegger remained a Nazi until the end of the war.
• He neither renounced nor apologized for his Nazism
during his life.
Ontology: What is it?
• Ontology is. Ontology IS the study of being, being as such, being
qua being, existence, or reality.
• Ontology is considered a major branch of Metaphysics.
• Aristotle broke up being primarily into two distinctions: Existence
(that it is) and Essence (how or what it is- “pulp”)
• “’Being’ is the most ‘universal’ concept… An understanding of being
is always already contained in everything we apprehend in beings.”
(Heidegger, 2)
• “The concept of ‘being’ is indefinable.” (Heidegger, 2)
• “Being is a self-evident concept.” (Heidegger, 3)
• Heidegger’s language concerning ontology is complicated and
confusing but there are basically two main categories.
• 1. The ontological- roughly, that which is; existence; being. Words to
look for—ontology, existence, primordial, existential, equiprimordial,
presupposed, phenomenological, and fundamental.
• 2. The ontic- roughly, manifestations of being made possible by the
ontological (e.g. language made possible by discourse or depressed
made possible by mood). Words to look for—ontic, essential,
existentiel, categories, categories, and factuals.
Brief account of Heidegger’s
Ontology
• Heidegger seeks to retrieve the question of being and ontology. “It is
said that ‘being’ is the most universal and emptiest concept. As
such it resists every attempt at definition.” (Heidegger, 2)
• One must ask the right question in order to produce the right
answer. Heidegger believes that the best place to start is to enquire
about the nature of ourselves, or what he calls Da-sein (being-thethere or being-there).
• “The being that has the character of Da-sein has a relation to the
question of being itself.” (Heidegger, 8)
• Thus, to enquire about being is to enquire about the nature and
ontology of Da-sein. Da-sein is a privileged kind of being precisely
because Da-sein is concerned about its being in a way that a rock,
tree, or animal is not.
• What constitutes Da-sein may be split up between the ontological
and the ontic.
• The ontological is what is necessary, presupposed, and gives rise to
the possibilities of enquiry.
•
Cont.
Da-sein is what is already always presupposed and whenever
human beings are in the world. We are in the world ontologically
and ontically.
• The “whatness” of Da-sein may be answered in terms of the
ontological structures always already present in Da-sein.
• 1. Da-sein is always already ‘in’ the world.
– Not a spatial relation, rather “to live… to dwell… I am used to, familiar
with. I take care of something” (54).
– This is called “being-in-the-world.”
• 2. Being-in-the-world makes itself know through “handiness” and “athand”; this is the “care” structure
– Handiness—hammer example
– At-hand—when handiness breaks and it becomes Obtrusive
• 3. Da-sein is always already in relation to others, Mitda-sein or
“being-with”; this is the “concern” structure
– Always already with others as being-in-the-world
– Not only “in” spatial relationship (ontic) but “in” as to dwell with
(ontological”
• 4. Da-sein is always already in a “mood” and “attuned”
– Mood comes from being-in-the-world
– Special mood of “Angst” or “Anxiety” towards death
Buddhist conception of “being”
•
•
•
•
•
Pivotal to the Buddhist understanding of being, the self, ego, or I is the idea
of nothingness, especially Anatta.
“…[T]he idea of an abiding, immortal substance in man, or outside, whether
it is called Atman, ‘I’, Soul, Self, or Ego, is considered only a false belief, a
mental projection. This is the Buddhist doctrine of Anatta, No-Soul or NoSelf.” (Rahula, 55) also, “no-selfness”
“The correct position with regard to the question of Anatta is…to try and see
things objectively as they are without… ‘I’ or ‘being’… [as] a combination of
physical and mental aggregates.” (66)
“The Buddha’s teaching on Anatta… should not be considered as negative
or annihilistic. Like Nirvana, it is truth, reality.” (66)
The apparent “self” and the “world” are made up of the Five Aggregates.
They are part of conventional truth.
–
–
–
–
–
•
•
•
1. Form/Matter- external physical world and material body
2. Sensation/Feeling- sensing an object
3. Perception- the registering of an object (e.g. sounds)
4. Mental formations- states of the mind (e.g. ideas)
5. Consciousness- cognizance or awareness
“In brief the five Aggregates of Attachment are dukkha.” (25)
Therefore, all of being is impermanent, subject to change, phenomena, and
dukkha. Ultimate reality, real being is nothingness; it is Nirvana.
Buddhism stresses a respectful and caring relationship with the world.
Comparison
•
Being and Time
Similarities
•
– Starts with a notion of “emptiness”
as definitional of being
– Emphasizes being-in-the-world as
always already there
– Phenomenological account
– Good relationship to nature
•
Differences
– Everything that is is being
– Presupposed ontological qualities
that make experience possible
– Da-sein is, it has real qualities
– Concept of self, Da-sein (beingthere)
– Being-in-the-world is reality
– Mitda-sein (being-with) is an
ontological quality
– Care structure as our relationship
to the world of objectively present
things
Buddhism
Similarities
– Starts with the notion of
“nothingness”
– Emphasizes a proper orientation
to the world by caring for others
– Phenomenological account
– Good relationship to nature
•
Differences
– Nothing is
– Experience, made possible by the
five Aggregates, is not ultimately
real
– Anatta has no qualities (neither
positive nor annihilistic)
– Anatta—no selfness
– World only has conventional
reality, not ultimate reality
– Relationship does not exist as
ultimate reality, only as
conventional reality
Concluding Thoughts
• Many other similarities and differences exist
between Heidegger and Buddhism
• Comparison between “Angst” and “Dukkha”?
“Throwness”? “Falling-prey”?
• Views on Time? Death?
• Zen Buddhism and Heidegger?
• Role of “mood” and emotion as ontological
structures?
• Metaphysical claim?
• Ontic categories of experience and the five
Aggregates?
• Many others…