Being And Time

Chapter 1 of Division 2 intended to show that Dasein’s authenticity and being-towards-a-whole is theoretically possible. This was done with an analysis of being-towards-death and its individualizing power. However, a problem remains. While an authentic relation to death allows us to escape the they, there is still the question of how we reach that state in the first place. In Heidegger’s terminology, we have demonstrated the ontological possibility of authentic life but not its “existentiell” or “ontic” possibility. That is, we have not shown what in actual reality can motivate or move us to that relation necessary to authenticity. This is especially pressing given what he has ruled out, for, as seen, he does not believe that any factually occurring death, or grief, can play this role. Equally, “brooding over death” (305), and reflecting on it, will not get us there. Nor will “forcing any such ideal upon it ‘from the outside’” (311). Authenticity will not be achieved by holding it up as a virtue we ought to pursue.

So, there must be something else. Heidegger thinks he has identified it with the “call of conscience.