From the dialogue on being. Between a metaphysician and a questioner (Martin Heidegger and Karl Rahner)

In the article the influence of Heidegger's philosophy on one of the most well known Catholic theologians of the 20 century Karl Rahner is analysed. It is shown that dialogue between Heidegger and Rahner is evident in the notion of «hearing». Rahner's interpretation of Heidegger's philosophy as metaphysical thought is considered. According to Rahner, Heidegger asks about being as such, in its totality. In Rahner's interpretations, the difference of Heidegger's approach to metaphysics consists in his seeking to put it on a new foundation: to define being not in terms of logos, but through the existential analysis of the human being as «Dasein». It is shown that, according to Rahner, Heidegger identifies pure being and pure nothingness. Rahner describes Heidegger's philosophy not as ontology but as ontochronic - a science, which shows that the meaning of all existing as such, and the meaning of being, is nothingness. Therefore it is impossible to raise the question about the existence of God from Heidegger's fundamental ontology. In Rahner's metaphysics the attention is focused on the understanding of being which is based on the concept of man as «Hearer of the Word». Metaphysical anthropology considers man as «spirit in the world», an existent being, capable of hearing the Divine Revelation in history. Rahner's vision of man is based on the concept of being which reveals to the human being through pre-conceptual, non-thematic grasp. Man exists as a question about being in its totality. Thus, the question about being as posed by man is the basic point in metaphysics. Rahner's thesis about cognoscibility as the most fundamental characteristic of being is also considered. It is shown that for Rahner the essence of being is the «being-present-to-itself of being» or the «luminosity of being to itself» as «subjectivity». The ability of man's knowing relation to being is deduced from the analysis of the act of judgment. In the process of judgment man establishes the object of it as something different from and independent of his judgment, and therefore as different from and independent of himself. Thus, man constitutes himself as the subject opposite to the object. Besides, in judgments about a particular thing, to present a thing in its limits, the reason should grasp this particular thing in correlation with «something more». By this «something more» Rahner means being in general. The grasping in reference to the totality of being isnamed «pre-concept» (Vorgriff). Pre-concept reveals being itself and the absolute being of God. In the conclusion it is shown that Rahner's and Heidegger's approaches are already essentially different at the level of the question. Rahner asks the question about being of beings, the absolute being, while Heidegger - about being as such in its distinction with beings

Keywords

Authors

References