Thrownness, Attunement, Attention: a Heideggerian Account Of
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Thrownness, Attunement, Attention: A Heideggerian Account of Responsibility Darshan Cowles A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Philosophy University of Essex October 2017 Abstract: This thesis argues that Heidegger’s existential analytic of human existence challenges the traditional understanding of responsibility as lying in the power or mastery of the subject. In contrast to secondary literature that attempts to read Heidegger as showing that we take responsibility through some kind of self-determination or control, I argue that Heidegger’s account of our thrownness, and its first-personal manifestation in our attunement, contests such understandings and points to an account of responsibility that does not find its locus in the power of the subject. In light of this, I argue that taking responsibility for our being-in-the-world should be understood as becoming attentive. By emphasizing the ‘movement’ of thrownness and the meaning of this as finding ourselves always already gripped by way of being attuned, my analysis demonstrates the pervasive power of that which is beyond the subject. I show that we must always already find ourselves submitted to particular possibilities and, more fundamentally, to the enigma of being Dasein. From this analysis, and via the work of Harry Frankfurt, I demonstrate how our thrownness speaks against seeing responsibility for our being-in-the-world in terms of choice, rational judgement, or wholeheartedness. A further analysis of anxiety, contrasting with accounts which read it as manifesting a privileged space for freedom and self-determination, emphasizes the revelation of the ‘I’ as essentially bound to what is beyond it. I then argue that a Heideggerian account of responsibility should be understood in terms of attention or attentiveness, a notion that is developed through phenomenological analysis, and in dialogue with the work of Iris Murdoch. Through the use of examples, I propose that attentiveness, with its accent on that which is beyond the subject, is a more appropriate way of conceiving responsibility on a Heideggerian account. 1 1 I would like to warmly thank my supervisor Irene McMullin for the insight, guidance, and encouragement given throughout the project. I would also like to give great thanks to Simon Thornton for his multifaceted contribution, and to Marta Kowalewska for her patience and kindness in proof-reading the work. Thanks also to Béatrice Han-Pile for assistance at the earliest stages of the project. Contents Abbreviations for Works by Heidegger .................................................................................. 1 Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 5 Aim of the Thesis ......................................................................................................................... 5 Methodology .............................................................................................................................. 10 Outline of the Thesis ............................................................................................................... 13 Chapter One - Moved by an Enigma: Facticity and Thrownness ..................... 17 The Fact That I am ................................................................................................................... 17 The particular fact of who I am and the fact of a ‘who’ as such .......................... 20 The fact of the enigma of being Dasein ............................................................... 25 Thrownness ................................................................................................................................ 30 Facilitating the traditional model of responsibility .............................................. 30 Movement ............................................................................................................. 35 Moved in a Particular Way as Dasein ............................................................................... 37 The Movement of Falling ....................................................................................................... 42 Chapter Two - Finding Ourselves Moved: Thrownness as Attunement ....... 47 Disclosure .................................................................................................................................... 48 Attunement ................................................................................................................................. 53 Making Thrownness Manifest (i) - Feelings, Moods, and Emotions ..................... 56 Passivity................................................................................................................ 57 Movement ............................................................................................................. 59 Being-in-the-world and Being-with-others .......................................................... 62 Making Thrownness Manifest (ii) - Constant Implicit Attunement ...................... 66 Thrown into a particular world as particular ‘who’ ............................................. 72 Thrown into existence as such.............................................................................. 75 Chapter Three - Clarity, Confidence, and Covering Over Anxiety ................... 81 Frankfurt Contra Choice and Rational Deliberation ................................................... 83 Clarity and Confidence ........................................................................................................... 92 Rejecting the Frankfurtian Account .................................................................................. 97 Covering Over Anxiety ......................................................................................................... 102 Chapter Four - The Meaning of Anxiety ................................................................ 107 Fear, Anxiety, and the Absence of the Everyday ........................................................ 108 Heidegger’s Methodological Inconsistency .................................................................. 115 Anxiety as the Space of Freedom: ‘Anxiety’ without Anxiety ................................ 118 Threat and Vulnerability ..................................................................................................... 125 Face to Face with our Thrownness into Dasein ......................................................... 127 Chapter Five - Heideggerian Accounts on the Traditional Model ............... 135 Reflection, Judgement, and Giving Reasons ................................................................. 135 The Choice to Choose ............................................................................................................ 141 Wholeheartedness - Choosing Oneself .......................................................................... 144 Independence from das Man .............................................................................................. 149 The Failure of the Traditional Model .............................................................................. 152 Responsiveness and the Missing Enigma ..................................................................... 153 Chapter Six - Attention................................................................................................ 165 Heidegger and Murdoch ...................................................................................................... 166 A Phenomenology of Attention ......................................................................................... 173 Accounting for the Traditional Model ............................................................................ 180 The Enigma of Attention’s Object .................................................................................... 192 Taking Responsibility as Attentiveness ......................................................................... 201 Locke .................................................................................................................. 201 Disgrace ............................................................................................................. 205 Conclusion ....................................................................................................................... 215 References ................................................................................................................................. 222 1 Abbreviations for Works by Heidegger With the exception of Being and Time where the German abbreviation and pagination will be used (as is customary), all other references to works by Heidegger will use the English pagination. BCAP - Basic Concepts of Aristotelian Philosophy, trans. R. Metcalf & M. Tanzer, Indiana University Press 2009 BPP - The Basic Problems of Phenomenology, trans. A. Hofstadter, Indiana University Press 1982 CT (D) - The Concept of Time, trans. I. Farin, Continuum International Publishing 2011 CT (T) - The Concept of Time, trans. W. McNeill, Blackwell Publishing Ltd 1992 ET - The Essence of Truth: On Plato’s Cave Allegory and Theatetus, trans. T. Sadler, Continuum 2002 FCM - The Fundamental Concepts of Metaphysics: World, Finitude, Solitude, trans. W. McNeill & N. Walker, Indiana University Press 1995 HCT - History of the Concept of Time, trans. T. Kisiel, Indiana University Press 1985 LH -