Ontology of Life and Fundamental Ontology

The Problem of the Cleavage Between Existence and the Living Being

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.36942/rfim.v6i1.1539

Keywords:

Life, Being-there, Ontology

Abstract

In paragraph 10 of Being and Time, Martin Heidegger delimits existential analytics in order to distinguish it from psychology, philosophical anthropology, biology itself, and from philosophies of life too. In this way, the author intends to renew the theoretical point of departure of the entity that we ourselves are, distancing the reader from the ideas of person, soul, consciousness, spirit, and so on. The aim of this article is to discuss how the problem of life is presented in this paragraph, since, on the one hand, existential analytics cannot be a philosophy of life, insofar as it seeks to investigate the meaning of Being on the basis of the prior understanding of Being that only Dasein has. On the other hand, Heidegger also points to a path for the ontological investigation of life starting from the ontology of Dasein. The problem is that life is neither a merely present-at-hand entity [Vorhandenes], nor a ready-to-hand entity [Zuhandenes], nor Dasein itself. It is a “peculiar mode of Being accessible only to Dasein,” but which is not reducible to it, nor reducible to present-at-hand entities. Heidegger believed that existential analytics could make up for the shortcomings of the philosophy of life itself, by managing to reach the access route to the meaning of Being; however, this articulation was not developed in any part of the author’s work, leaving this concept with an uncertain place in ontology in general.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biography

Isadora Franco Felício dos Santos, Federal University of ABC (UFABC)

Master degree in Philosophy from the Federal University of ABC (UFABC) and is a doctoral student at the same institution. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Philosophy from the State University of São Paulo (UNESP—Marília campus). Her research interests include the hermeneutic phenomenology of Martin Heidegger’s philosophy and contemporary German philosophy, particularly as it relates to the concept of facticity.

References

Heidegger, M. Sein und Zeit. (GA.2) [1927] Frankfurt am Mein : Vittorio Klostermann, 1976 [Heidegger, M. Ser e Tempo. Trad. Fausto Castiho. Petrópolis : Vozes, 2012.

Heidegger, M. “Phänomenologische Interpretationen zu Aristoteles. Anzeige der hermeneutischen Situation”. Dilthey Jahrbuch, nº 6, pp. 228-274, Hans-Ulrich Lessing, 1989 [Heidegger, M. Interpretaciones fenomenológicas sobre Aristóteles. Indicación de la situación hermenéutica. Trad. Jesús Adrián Escudero, Madrid : Trotta, 2002].

Heidegger, M. Phänomenologische Interpretationen zu Aristoteles: Einführung in die phänomenologische Forschung (GA 61). Frankfurt am Main: Vittorio Klostermann, 1994 [Heidegger, M. Interpretações fenomenológicas sobre Aristóteles: Introdução à pesquisa fenomenológica Trad. Enio Paulo Giachini. Petrópolis: Vozes, 2011].

Heidegger, M. Die Grundbegriffe der Metaphysik. Welt – Endlichkeit – Einsamkeit. Frankfurt am Main : Vittorio Klostermann, 1983.

Heidegger, M. Einführung in die phänomenologische Forschung (GA 17), Frankfurt am Main : Vittorio Klostermann, 1994 [Heidegger, M. Introducción a la investigación fenomenológica. Trad. Juan José García Norro. Madrid : Síntesis, 2008].

Heidegger, M. Wegmarken (GA9), Frankfurt am Main : Vittorio Klostermann, 1967 [Heidegger, M. Marcas do caminho. Trad. Enio Paulo Giachini e Ernildo Stein. Petrópolis : Vozes, 2008].

Barbaras, R. Investigações fenomenológicas: em direção a uma fenomenologia da vida. Curitiba: Editora UFPR, 2011.

Escudero, J. “Notas aclaratorias”. Em: Heidegger, Martin. Interpretaciones fenomenológicas sobre Aristóteles. Indicación de la situación hermenéutica. Madrid : Trotta, 2002.

Krell, D. “The ‘Factical Life’ of Dasein: From the Early Freiburg Courses to Being and Time”. In: Reading Heidegger from the Start, pp. 361–379. New York : State University of New York Press. 1994.

Gaiger, J. “Lebensphilosophie”. In: Craig, E. (ed.). Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy [online]. Disponível em: https://www.rep.routledge.com/articles/thematic/lebensphilosophie/v-1, Acesso em: 05.06.2026.

Reis, R. R. “Pulsão e dimensão: Heidegger e a estrutura da aptidão orgânica”. Trans/form/ação, v. 41, n. 3, pp. 191-212, 2018.

Reis, R. R. “A Fenomenologia da percepção animal nos conceitos fundamentais da metafísica”. Dissertatio: Revista de Filosofia, v. 48, 2018, pp 125 – 144.

Published

2026-06-18

How to Cite

FRANCO FELÍCIO DOS SANTOS, Isadora. Ontology of Life and Fundamental Ontology: The Problem of the Cleavage Between Existence and the Living Being. Pós-Graduação em Filosofia, [S. l.], v. 6, n. 1, p. e2026060602, 2026. DOI: 10.36942/rfim.v6i1.1539. Disponível em: https://periodicos.ufabc.edu.br/index.php/instauratiomagna/article/view/1539. Acesso em: 21 jun. 2026.

Issue

Section

Dossiê - X Semana de Filosofia da UFABC