Authenticity and Death in Being and Time

My dissertation offers a critique of the concept of authenticity that Martin Heidegger develops in Being and Time. The concept of authenticity has been critiqued for many reasons--mainly for political, moral, and ideological reasons. My dissertation develops, on the other hand, a conceptual critique: I argue that the concept of authenticity is a paradoxical concept. I argue, more precisely, that it is paradoxical, as the concept of authenticity proposes, for a person to confront, transparently and determinedly, his or her own death, while, at the same time, being able to be an individual--understanding him or herself as an individual, and making autonomous choices. In offering this critique, I provide interpretations of some of the basic concepts in Being and Time that break from conventional interpretations or are new. For example, I interpret the concept of inauthenticity from the perspective of the psychoanalytic idea of mania. Ultimately, however, I provide philosophical, or conceptual reasons to resist a concept with clearly problematic moral and political implications.

Author dc:creator

• Shaw, Beau Carmel

• Philosophy
• Death
• Authenticity (Philosophy)
• Mania
• Heidegger, Martin, 1889-1976
• Sein und Zeit (Heidegger, Martin)

Language dc:language

English

DOI dc:identifier

https://doi.org/10.7916/D8QZ2J2G

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:academiccommons.columbia.edu:10.7916/D8QZ2J2G