In his book “Ontology—The Hermeneutics of Facticity” Heidegger talks about how care is a fundamental aspect of our experience of the world, of our being human.
“To-be-‘in’-the-world does not mean occurring among other things, but rather: all the while being concerned about it and attending to it, tarrying awhile ‘at home in’ the round-about of the world being encountered. The authentic mode of “being” in the world is caring in the sense of producing, putting in place.”
First, this shows Heidegger’s rejection of strict objectivity. Our interactions with the world are never strictly objective because we always arrange the things we encounter. This is not always a physical arrangement. In fact it is primarily something that takes place though our arranging ideas and words in our minds, and those words and ideas are connected with physical things in the world. They shape how we experience physical things.
(This of course does not mean that we can arrange things in any way we wish. Our arrangement has to allow us to interact successfully with the physical world as it is in terms of basic qualities that the physical things have. But Heidegger would argue that those basic physical qualities are far more limited and bare than what we often assume them to be. Most of what we encounter when we encounter everyday objects is a result of the way that we arrange them –mostly via the way that we arrange the ideas and words that we attach to them—and not because of the basic physical qualities of the objects themselves. What we think of things is far more influential in how we deal with them then their basic physical characteristics: size, weight, shape, etc. Purpose, usefulness and meaning are limited by those physical characteristics, but they are determined far more by what we think and how we act.)
But if care is such a foundational part of how we experience the world, why are we not always aware of it. Why would it take a philosopher or careful examination to realize that care is so important? This is because care is often hidden.
“Care disappears in the habits, customs and publicness of everydayness—and this does not mean it comes to an end, but rather that it does not show itself any longer, it is covered up…. The world being encountered appears as simply there in a straightforward manner.”
We act out of habit most of the time. This means that we act not paying attention to the physical things around us in any more detail than is needed to use them for whatever limited purpose we have for them at that specific moment. Even more so, we act without paying attention to the arrangement we have made: the words, ideas and thoughts that determine how we understand, see and use things.
I would add that we often pick up habits from other or society without knowing what arrangement they rely on. We pick up habits while being unaware of the care that is behind them. We act in the world as if it is always and essentially the way we see it. When we act out of habit; we take for granted the care, the arrangement, that has made the world the comprehensible, and sometimes meaningful, place it is. In other words, in habit we stop noticing the significant part that the human mind has played in making the world in which we live. This is what allows us to think and talk of objectivity, as if the things are there to be encountered in and of themselves without contamination from the subject.
Though he doesn’t talk about authenticity much in this book, he does in Being and Time. I think authenticity fits in here in a very important way. When we are aware and conscious of the arrangements and the care that shape our world, we are aware of the inherent subjectivity. Then we are also able to play a role in shaping the world we live in. This can’t happen when we unthinkingly take up habits from others (which we always do, especially when we are young—that is how we become social creatures) and never stop to inquire about the arrangements and care that they are base on. If we do not pay attention to these things we are being inauthentic, and we are living under the control of those arrangements and cares. Those things shape the world that we live in, and we take them as being part of the world, not part of what we bring to the world. In not being aware of them, they exert a huge amount of influence on us that we are bind to. When we do that we are slaves of others cares and arrangements and we are inauthentic.
Because we so often act out of habit—not seeing the importance of the arrangement and the way that the things themselves are different from what we make of them—we can sometimes be surprised when the physical world does not conform to our arrangements.
First, this shows Heidegger’s rejection of strict objectivity. Our interactions with the world are never strictly objective because we always arrange the things we encounter. This is not always a physical arrangement. In fact it is primarily something that takes place though our arranging ideas and words in our minds, and those words and ideas are connected with physical things in the world. They shape how we experience physical things.
(This of course does not mean that we can arrange things in any way we wish. Our arrangement has to allow us to interact successfully with the physical world as it is in terms of basic qualities that the physical things have. But Heidegger would argue that those basic physical qualities are far more limited and bare than what we often assume them to be. Most of what we encounter when we encounter everyday objects is a result of the way that we arrange them –mostly via the way that we arrange the ideas and words that we attach to them—and not because of the basic physical qualities of the objects themselves. What we think of things is far more influential in how we deal with them then their basic physical characteristics: size, weight, shape, etc. Purpose, usefulness and meaning are limited by those physical characteristics, but they are determined far more by what we think and how we act.)
But if care is such a foundational part of how we experience the world, why are we not always aware of it. Why would it take a philosopher or careful examination to realize that care is so important? This is because care is often hidden.
“Care disappears in the habits, customs and publicness of everydayness—and this does not mean it comes to an end, but rather that it does not show itself any longer, it is covered up…. The world being encountered appears as simply there in a straightforward manner.”
We act out of habit most of the time. This means that we act not paying attention to the physical things around us in any more detail than is needed to use them for whatever limited purpose we have for them at that specific moment. Even more so, we act without paying attention to the arrangement we have made: the words, ideas and thoughts that determine how we understand, see and use things.
I would add that we often pick up habits from other or society without knowing what arrangement they rely on. We pick up habits while being unaware of the care that is behind them. We act in the world as if it is always and essentially the way we see it. When we act out of habit; we take for granted the care, the arrangement, that has made the world the comprehensible, and sometimes meaningful, place it is. In other words, in habit we stop noticing the significant part that the human mind has played in making the world in which we live. This is what allows us to think and talk of objectivity, as if the things are there to be encountered in and of themselves without contamination from the subject.
Though he doesn’t talk about authenticity much in this book, he does in Being and Time. I think authenticity fits in here in a very important way. When we are aware and conscious of the arrangements and the care that shape our world, we are aware of the inherent subjectivity. Then we are also able to play a role in shaping the world we live in. This can’t happen when we unthinkingly take up habits from others (which we always do, especially when we are young—that is how we become social creatures) and never stop to inquire about the arrangements and care that they are base on. If we do not pay attention to these things we are being inauthentic, and we are living under the control of those arrangements and cares. Those things shape the world that we live in, and we take them as being part of the world, not part of what we bring to the world. In not being aware of them, they exert a huge amount of influence on us that we are bind to. When we do that we are slaves of others cares and arrangements and we are inauthentic.
Because we so often act out of habit—not seeing the importance of the arrangement and the way that the things themselves are different from what we make of them—we can sometimes be surprised when the physical world does not conform to our arrangements.
“On account of this, the possibility ever remains that distress will suddenly break forth in the world. The world can be encountered as something distressing only insofar as it is a world which is of significance to us.”
It is always possible that the world of physical objects will act in a way that defies our habits. Or on a deeper level that defies our ideas and words, our arrangement. This is upsetting, or should be if we care to notice it. We won’t notice it if these things—and the arrangement we have made and become used to, our habitual state—are not important to us. Even if they are important to us, we will feel ourselves powerless to do anything about it if we are not aware of the fact that care and arrangement have shaped that world. It is when this happens that we should take a special interest in examining the world, life, and becoming aware of the care and arrangements that have shaped them. If we are already aware of the care and arrangement that have shaped the world we are already one step ahead.
It is this being aware of how care shapes the world we live in, and how habits are both an expression of that care and a way of hiding it, that makes examining life in a philosophical way fruitful.
It is always possible that the world of physical objects will act in a way that defies our habits. Or on a deeper level that defies our ideas and words, our arrangement. This is upsetting, or should be if we care to notice it. We won’t notice it if these things—and the arrangement we have made and become used to, our habitual state—are not important to us. Even if they are important to us, we will feel ourselves powerless to do anything about it if we are not aware of the fact that care and arrangement have shaped that world. It is when this happens that we should take a special interest in examining the world, life, and becoming aware of the care and arrangements that have shaped them. If we are already aware of the care and arrangement that have shaped the world we are already one step ahead.
It is this being aware of how care shapes the world we live in, and how habits are both an expression of that care and a way of hiding it, that makes examining life in a philosophical way fruitful.
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