Heidegger’s criticism of onto-theological constitution of metaphysics
191-0000000-3503
Project Director dr. sc. Ivan Kordić
Summary:
Martin Heidegger regards Western metaphysics as ontotheology, which has taken various forms throughout history but essentially retained its fundamental characteristic: it has come to forget Being and turned to various forms and concepts of beings, mistaking them for Being. The central being is god, who in different metaphysical models assumes different, sometimes even contradictory, names which should reflect the meaning of Being and the entirety of beings. This oblivion set in as early as the beginnings of Greek philosophy, which preferred to ask the cognitive-theoretical question rather than the ontological one, this practice becoming much more widespread in the Modern Age philosophy and science but also in technology, which, instead of serving man, had started threatening to become his master. Therefore, Heidegger adopts a phenomenological approach to Being, one intelligible to man, who from the practical experience of reality derives all other notions of the self and the world, respecting temporality and historicity. In this regard, he needs to realise that Christian god is sometimes also understood as metaphysical, as a causa sui deprived of its biblical temporality and religious immediacy. That is why also Christian theology was subject to his criticism. Heidegger being one of the most significant modern thinkers, the aim is to explore his philosophical theses, both in the historical and the contemporary context of particular philosophical questions, which in many respects carry his mark, especially at the level of philosophical hermeneutics which was elaborated at length by his disciple Gadamer. I expect the results of the research to provide insights into the philosophical relevance of Heidegger’s understanding of metaphysics, into the legitimacy of his critique of theology as ontotheology and into the significance of philosophical hermeneutics for understanding of philosophy in general and biblical theology and practical philosophy in particular. Results of the research will be verifiable in the papers to be published, and its importance lies in the communicating of one of the most significant thinkers to the Croatian philosophical community, with a view to initiating a philosophical dialogue in the European context and the inclusion of Croatian philosophy and its heritage into contemporary thought streams.
Project assistants:
Ivan Dugandžić
Tvrtko Jolić
Ivan Kordić