resoluteness

Martin Heidegger

is obstinacy in a course that we approve.

resolute, adj. Obstinate in a course that we approve.

is the most annoying posture an enemy can maintain

is obstinate in a course that we approve.

is characterized by angst (because it authentically frees us from our absorption with things) rather than fear (which inauthentically benumbs us).

Fear is inauthentic, since it is hypnotized or benumbed by whatever frightens it; Heidegger agrees with Aristotle’s definition of fear as “a kind of depression or bewilderment.” It is very different with Angst, which frees us from our absorption with things. Resolute Dasein has Angst, but not fear.

is coming to grips with one’s own being-in-the-world and not chattering about it with the they.

It would be easier for Dasein if conscience had some sort of positive content, because then we could calculate exactly what our guilt is, and exactly what the remedy might be. By the same token, it would be easier if Heidegger gave us some sort of specific ethical philosophy, with a complete list of those actions that are allowed and forbidden. Heidegger gives us no such thing. What he gives us instead is the concept of resoluteness, which has no specific content just as conscience has none. Resolute Dasein comes to grips with its own being in the world, and does not chatter about it with the they.

is an authentic way of being oneself; it reveals to us whatever is possible at the current moment, and gives no specific ethical advice.

Resoluteness is an authentic way of being oneself; it reveals to us whatever is possible at the current moment, and gives no specific ethical advice. A Nazi storm trooper and a resistance fighter could both be perfectly “resolute,” as could Christians and Muslims, or conservatives and liberals.

is not some sort of conscious decision-making. It is not a “choice made by a human subject” but rather an “occurrence that determines Dasein”.

At this point we would do well to hesitate. The emphasis on notions such as choice and commitment makes it all too easy to think that resoluteness essentially involves some sort of conscious decision-making. For this reason, Vallega-Neu (2003, 15) reminds us that resoluteness is not a “choice made by a human subject” but rather an “occurrence that determines Dasein”. This occurrence discloses Dasein's essential finitude.

resoluteness, n.All

resoluteness