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Heidegger's Notion Of Authenticity

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MISS R.A Masuluke 201428880 UBUNTU:AUTHENTICALLY BEING-WITH OTHERS. Honours Research Project RENEILWE MASULUKE 201428880 HONOURS STUDENT HEIDEGGER FIRST DRAFT RESEARCH PROJECT Introduction In this essay I will argue that, contrary to appearances, Heidegger’s notion of authenticity with its emphasis on individuality and Ubuntu with its emphasis on community are compatible and, in fact, mutually add to each other. The paper will consist of three sections, whereby in the first section I give an exposition of some parts of Heidegger’s Being and Time, particularly highlighting the difference between authenticity and inauthenticity. In the second section I will be discussing the notion of Ubuntu in depth, with reference to various writers’ …show more content…

According to Charles Guignon to grasp the meaning of authenticity we need to consider the etymology of the word Eigentlichkeit, which is a German translation of the key term authenticity. Guignon focuses on the first part of the word ‘eigen’, which means or can be used interchangeably with words such as really or truly and also one’s own. Guignon interprets Heidegger’s notion of authenticity as not just a matter of simply finding a better way of live but it also includes being disclosed to one’s own existence, authenticity is a matter of finding out what it is to be really a human as a whole. “Anxiety and being-toward-death are components of what defines an authentic existence, and they contribute to understanding what in such a life can give Dasein’s existence unity and wholeness” (Guignon in McManus; 2015:16).This implies that Dasein becomes authentic when its existence becomes threatened , such as in cases of anxiety and when facing …show more content…

Inauthentic existence is not a diminution of Being, it is no less real than authentic existence. Nor is Heidegger’s talk of inauthenticity intended to embody any sort of value-judgement, it simply connotes one more distinguishing characteristic of any entity whose Being is an issue for it “(Mulhall, 2005:37). Moreover, he seems to be associating authenticity with the essence of humanness, that is to say, by claiming that when one becomes authentic one then becomes fully human. This then implies that it would make sense to claim that an inauthentic being is not fully

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