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The essential problematic of Heidegger's fundamental ontology is the question of the meaning of being in general. However, in order to work out this question we must, Heidegger claims, first "make a being — the inquirer — perspicuous in his own Being" (BT, 27). The objective of the existential analytic is to provide a "concrete understanding of the basic constitution of Dasein" (BT, 358). The existential analytic is a twofold process. The first step consists of the preparatory analysis of Dasein carried out in Division One. The outcome of this analysis is that "the totality of Being-in-the-world as a structural whole has revealed itself as care" (BT, 274). The transition to the second step is carried out in the first chapters of Division Two, which provide a phenomenal basis for seeing this phenomenon as a whole. Having done so, Heidegger can go on to the second step of his existential analytic which is to "exhibit its concrete temporal constitution" (BT, 384). This will show, Heidegger claims, that "Temporality makes possible the unity of existence, facticity, and falling, and in this way constitutes primordially the totality of the structure of care" (BT, 376). Temporality is what holds care together as a whole and thus is also what gives the full meaning of the being of Dasein.

DOI: 10.1007/978-94-010-9768-0_10

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