College of DuPage [email protected]. Philosophy Scholarship Philosophy 4-1-2006 "Anxiety" in Heidegger's Being and Time: The Harbinger of Authenticity James Magrini College of DuPage, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://dc.cod.edu/philosophypub Part of the Philosophy Commons Recommended Citation Magrini, James, ""Anxiety" in Heidegger's Being and Time: The aH rbinger of Authenticity" (2006). Philosophy Scholarship. Paper 15. http://dc.cod.edu/philosophypub/15 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Philosophy at [email protected].. It has been accepted for inclusion in Philosophy Scholarship by an authorized administrator of [email protected].. For more information, please contact [email protected]. DIALOGUE April, 2006 "Anxiety" in Heidegger's Being and Time: The Harbinger of Authenticity J.M. Magrini DePaul University ABSTRACT: Analyzing the fundamental ontology of Dasein in Martin Heidegger's Being and Time, this essay details the essential relationship between the mood of "anxiety" (Angst) and Dasein ' s authentic comportment to existence. Although a highly disturbing experience, anxiety holds the potential for enlightenment, as it opens Dasein to the fundamental characteristics of its temporal authenticity. Dasein assents to its Selfhood and enacts its freedom in a "resolute," authentic manner only when it grasps the difficult and burdensome aspects of life revealed by way of Angst's attunement. Thus, I argue that anxiety is the single most important mode of human attunement that Heidegger describes. This essay examines the relationship understanding in which the existent between the mood of anxiety (Angst) and Dasein does not understand itself primar­ Dasein's authentic comportment to ily by that apprehended possibility of existence. It will be shown that anxiety is itself which is most peculiarly its own" a potentially enlightening experience, (Basic Problems of Phenomenology, which brings Dasein before the most 279). In the inauthentic mode, Dasein's fundamental characteristics of authenticity, understanding and discourse are expressed including Dasein's awareness of its own­ within the idle talk and curiosity of the most potentiality-for-Being, which it "they-self," disclosing existence in a projects while bearing the full weight of superficial and ambiguous manner. its primordial guilt, thereby owning up to Tranquilized by what seems a complete the "nothingness" at the root of its Being, understanding of things, Dasein never and further, facing the uttermost, insur­ sets out to acquire an authentic under­ mountable "certainty" of its possible standing of existence and is unconcerned non-existence, or death. As a far-reach­ with the clear-sighted projection of its ing primordial possibility of disclosure, ownmost possibilities. Lost in the "they­ anxiety makes manifest in Dasein its self," Dasein does not enact its own "Being towards its ownmost potentiality­ Being and either avoids, or remains for-Being - that is, its Being}ree for the oblivious to, the uniqueness and freedom of choosing itself and taking "peculiarity" of its Being and its genuine hold of itself' (Being and Time , possibilities. 232/188). To choose and take hold of This lack of authentic self-understanding oneself, as Heidegger conceives, is to is a problem for Heidegger, who is con­ assent to one's own most potentiality-for­ cerned with bringing Dasein . back to Being and exist in an authentic manner. itself to face its own Being with honesty This includes Being-in-the-world in such and integrity. Asking how Dasein's own­ a way that one is beholden to the past most potentiality-for-Being is to be and accountable for the future. grasped and enacted, Heidegger offers a For the most part, Dasein exists in solution that spans nearly the entirety of an inauthentic manner (everydayness), Division II of Being and Time. When which amounts to choosing not to choose Dasein exists authentically, he con­ itse(f, and is characterized by the perpet­ cludes, "Dasein is itself in and from its ual movement of falling. This mode of own most peculiar possibility, a possibil­ existence for Heidegger denotes "an ity that has been seized on and chosen by 77 DIALOGUE April,2006 the Dasein itself' (BP, 287). Authentic Dasei n ' s Being, it must first locate the existence constitutes Dasein's most most far-reaching, primordial mode of extreme possibility of existing, which attunement that effectively reveals primarily determines its Being. As Dasei n' s entire structural make-up. In opposed to moving along passively with quest of this primordial mode of disclo­ the ebb and flow of things, Dasein, for sure, Heidegger searches for the "right the first time, is emphatically choosing to mood," that is, the mood that most effec­ choose itself and its own way in the tively brings to light the oppressive, world. It is for this reason that Heidegger disturbing character of existence, and for considers authentic existence an extreme this reason examines anxiety (Angst) , possibility for Dasein. 1 However, before a pri mordial state of Dasein' s attune­ Dasein comports itself authentically, it ment. Anxiety reveals existence as a must be brought back from falling and phenomenon that eludes all attempts to the "they-self' to instead face itself and explain and control it, thus opening up the ultimate conditions of existence. This the fundamental elements of Dasein' s is accomplished by way of the revelatory existence, revealing its "world as world," mood (Stimmung) of anxiety, which for bringing forth its most important and Heidegger represents the harbinger of authentic possibilities in light of finitude. authenticity. According to Heidegger, the funda­ Moods are fundamental states of mental mood of anxiety is the most attunement that color Dasein's disposition rudimentary form of disclosure that and awareness, out of which it uncovers, attunes Dasein to its existence, more or discloses, things that matter. Prior to primordial and .revelatory than any comporting itself to any situation, Dasein other average everyday mood. Anxiety is already immersed within a mood of exposes Dasein to the fundamental some kind, as attunement is always at nature of its Being-in-the-world by work influencing its worldly orientation. bringing it before the great void of exis­ Heidegger describes attunement as a pri­ tence, and is therefore crucial to Dasein's mordial way of Being that precedes "all authentic existential understanding of cognition and volition, and [is] beyond such phenomena as "death," "nothing­ their range of disclosure" (BT, ] 75/136). ness," and "thrownness." This awareness However, not all moods are equally then attunes Dasein as it enacts its revealing. For example, everyday moods authentic possibilities in the existentiell. such as love, happiness, boredom, irri­ In essence, anxiety is about "nothing­ tability, and fear do not provide funda­ ness," or the "nullity" that resides at the mental existential insight into Dasein' s center of Dasein's Being. Heidegger Being as a whole, <l!ld instead reveal the views the issue of existential nothingness world in a restricted and limited manner. as a pressing philosophical concern, Veiling more than they disclose, "every­ which is to be confronted and interrogated. day moods" lead to a diminished aware­ The monumental significance of "nUllity" ness. Therefore, instead of pressing forth within Being and Time is evident when into its possibilities in a lucid manner, we come to understand that without the Dasein responds inappropriately and ultimate "anxious" encounter with the inadequately to the situation at hand, as "nothing" of existence Dasein can nei­ is the case when Dasein, in the mood of ther legitimately approach the possibility fear, "becomes unsure of everything else of its Selfhood nor authentically enact its and completely loses [its] head."2 freedom.' Heidegger's task within Being and Anxiety is about death and guilt, Time is to carry out what he defines as awakening Dasein to the inherent the "fundamental ontology" of Dasein. instability and indefiniteness of its finite In order for the existential analytic to existence. However, anxiety is not a fear master its provisional task of exhibiting of a particular entity in the world. Rather, 78 DIALOGUE April, 2006 anxiety is a generalized, highly disturb­ meaning, force, and significance. Things ing dread arising from Dasein, which that were once familiar and compre­ induces a crisis of meaning. Anxiety hendible show themselves in problematic provokes a shattering breakdown in the ways. Dasein is momentarily "left everyday, familiar ways in which Dasein hanging" as a homeless, thrown being. conducts its life and most dramatically Alienated, in the mode of the "not-at­ illustrates the principle of breakdown home" (Unheimlichkeit), Dasein is forced and revelation within Heidegger's before the "nothingness" of existence.4 philosophy. For example, in Division I, This primordial, " uncanny" existential Section ill, Chapter 16 (Being and mode of the "not-at-home" represents for Time), Heidegger analyzes the break­ Heidegger the most fundamental way of down of "ready-to-hand" equipment and existence, acting to individualize Dasein the subsequent revelation of "world" for its own Being, revealing the unique, through the phenomenon of the "un­ individual possibilities, which it alone ready-to-hand." When a tool functions has the potential to enact as Being-in­ properly, its authentic "readiness-to­ the-world. hand" remains inconspicuous. On the However, the individualization (exis­ contrary, when a tool ceases to function tential solipsism) that occurs in anxiety properly, or becomes unusable, it quickly is the exact opposite of solipsism as tra­ draws the attention of the user to the ditionally conceived, i.e., as a retreat into system of relations of which it is a part the secluded interiority of the conscious­ as it is directed toward a specific task. At ness, and is instead Dasein's bold the instant of breakdown, Dasein catches reclaiming of its world and Being.