The question of ethics in Martin Heidegger is reduced to the question of Man’s finite existence
- of his being capable of death as death. An in-depth survey of several early Heideggerian
texts on death highlights the feasibility of refounding a practical philosophy circumscribed
by the presupposition of death as a possibility that comprises all of the possibilities
of existence of the Dasein: the There-Being. In fact, Man’s relationship to his own
death determines the how of his relationship with other men and the world. His relationship
with death is not something that occurs out of necessity, but something that is open to his
own free willed decision. In late Heidegger, such resoluteness, Entschlossenheit, is radicalized
in its intrinsic ontological value. Man becomes mortal, and his mortality allows him to
take his place into the Four-Fold: the Geviert from which his dwelling in the world receives
its sense of being. In late Heidegger, such an opening does not necessarily occur except for
those who choose to take charge of their own Being able to die. This article also traces the
notion of the finiteness of Man in Heideggerian thought with regard to the question of
Man’s actions in the world.
