Martin Heidegger on Temporality: Its Moral Implication on Society

Abstract

Martin Heidegger is one of the contemporary philosophers; he is a mystic reflecting on Being. He believes that all philosophers from ancient to contemporary periods had forgotten Being. His contribution to philosophy is to recover the real meaning of Being. For him, Being is spacio-temporal which means Being is anchored in space and time. According to Heidegger “Being” is a mystery that can be approached but it cannot be penetrated. Heidegger’s temporality includes: past, present and future and they are interconnected. Heidegger’s discussion on time as future does not involve lasting future but immediate future. Therefore, Heidegger’s temporality lacks “eternity”. Indeed, any society that the members accept only “now” and “immediate future” and they do not believe in “eternity” life becomes a do-or-die affair. It means that the society is materialistic, and we are running the race of self-survival, self-preservation, that we cannot donate for the welfare of others and also for good neighbourliness. Our method is to reflect on the original works of Heidegger and commentaries written on him by other authors to see the implications for the society.