Heidegger: Essence of Philosophy

“Why are there essents, rather than nothing at all,” Heidegger regards this one basic question as the essence of philosophy. This makes sense as the first question because, before you can ask why or how something ended up where it is, you have to ask why anything even exists to begin with. For instance, before asking the question of where life came from or whether God created life, you have to ask why life or God even exist.

According to Heidegger, throughout the course of our lives, this question will inevitably cross our minds either directly, or as a brief thought. Each individual’s experience will differ; the weight of the question and what we choose to do with it, either embrace or shun it, is entirely personal. The idea of da-sein is sometimes brought on by emotional turmoil or cases of boredom when meaning becomes distorted and the mind is opened and inspired to think outside of the box.

Heidegger deems Philosophy as essential because of its ability to inspire thinking that changes how humans evolve, and reassess what is held as culturally important. It is the deepest, most far reaching, and fundamental question. Philosophy is often misinterpreted as the understood foundation on which we build our history, life, and culture. This is considered a fallacy because it asks too much of Philosophy, and gives the perception that it has the power to directly create opportunities and bring about historical change.

Philosophy’s role upon comprehending this question should be to challenge historical existence and return things to their true weight. In the absence of Philosophical thinking, man isn’t driven to question the purpose of existence, but is content with what is known. It has the ability to cause humans to question the norm and challenge it.

The best way to understand Philosophy is to think of asking “why” or “how” in favor of accepting what is. It is to question the knowledge and teachings of those who came before us and think of new...