The Danger of Being Ridden by a Type
Series
Studies in the Philosophy of Sociality
ISBN
978-3-319-56865-2
Type
book section
Date Issued
2017
Author(s)
Editor(s)
Schmid, Hans Bernhard
Thonhauser, Gerhard
Abstract
The critical analysis of habit is regularly complemented by scenarios of how to defy it. Heidegger’s conceptual pairing for taking on this twofold task is “everydayness” and “authenticity.” In this paper, his account is put to test. By choosing an unusual line-up of authors – Heidegger, Hegel, and Diderot –, it identifies three different strategies for overcoming the danger of being ridden by a type. They appeal to authenticity, universality, or individuality. After discussing Hegel’s and Diderot’s accounts, the paper turns to Heidegger’s confrontation between everydayness and authenticity and shows that it remains inconclusive. In order to create a bulwark against habit Heidegger establishes a link between authenticity and the anticipation of death which makes Dasein turn away from the “multiplicity of possibilities” and secures the “simplicity” of resoluteness. This total demolition of particularities and differences paves the way to a totalitarian conception of overcoming customs: The individual is prone to affirm a destiny marked by total homogeneity and equalization. The paper comes to the conclusion that, among the different readings of habit and its discontents, Diderot’s account is the most plausible.
Language
English
HSG Classification
contribution to scientific community
HSG Profile Area
SHSS - Kulturen, Institutionen, Maerkte (KIM)
Book title
From Conventionalism to Social Authenticity : Heidegger’s Anyone and Contemporary Social Theory
Publisher
Springer International Publishing
Publisher place
Cham
Volume
1st edition 2017
Start page
115
End page
132
Pages
28
Subject(s)
Division(s)
Contact Email Address
barbara.jungclaus@unisg.ch
Eprints ID
253565