Philosophy, among other interests, seeks to study and condition the finite nature of the human being, the human being is the only animal that knows that there is an end called death, reflecting on the fact beyond the event. It is precisely this awareness of finesse that encourages our most momentous reflection, culminating in a reflection on the actions and decisions we make in this life.
Borges, in his tale The Immortal, tells the story of an eternal man. At one point, this man meets Homer, who is also immortal. After this meeting, remember: “I said goodbye to Homer at the gates of Tangier. I don’t think we said goodbye. Two immortal people do not feel the need to say “goodbye” because there will be no “end”. Is it an obstacle to that possibility?
- The human being.
- Aware of his finitude.
- Is a precious being because every moment he lives has infinite value; in a way.
- Its finestitude gives value to the moment.
As we have already mentioned, every moment of our lives is unique: our path is a path to death, the human being was born as if he had launched himself into a world whose historical, social and family situation is already given. that we’re predetermined?
For Martin Heidegger, the most important existentialist philosopher of the twentieth century, awareness of the finesse of man makes it highly desirable for each of us to have our own authentic thought, to think without authenticity is thoughtless and does not lead us to a full life.
To understand what inautentic thinking means, we can think of a common situation, let’s say we get in a taxi, the radio is on and the taxi driver starts talking about the news being broadcast, explains his opinion on this subject, an opinion that could certainly be inferred/anticipated from the radio he is listening to.
For Heidegger, repeating other people’s ideas and opinions without thinking about it means “talking about it. “The taxi driver (it can only be an example, without wanting to offend anyone) does not think about what he says, but repeats a series of arguments that are not his own.
Therefore, the inautentic life, for Heidegger, is one that is lived from the outside, that is thoughtless and that is not aware of its mortality; when human beings are aware of their mortality, they are more likely to want to live with their own thoughts and make their own decisions.
The unnautnical life is one that is not aware of its mortality
Man would be a being thrown into the world. She would have been born out of nowhere and would not go to anything, fact or idea that revealed her finite condition, but at the same time it is also a project into the future for that same condition.
Are our status as human beings deeply present who walk into the future?It forces us to think about possibility without reality. We are our possibilities, not to mention that the possibility of all possibilities is death (whatever we choose, we can always die. , that is, mortality is always present).
The human being who opts for an authentic life would do so through the anguish of the experience of nothing, which is the experience of death, makes his decisions knowing that his life is unique and that any moment, besides ephemeral, can be the last. He knows that no one can die for him and, above all, he is aware that death is not just a time for others to go through.
“Man is this being who is distressed and the more he is, the more distressed he is. “- Seren Kierkegaard-