Descartes, Heidegger, the human condition and the problem of time

Abstract

This article examines the problem of the human condition and its relation with time, particularly with the future, from the perspective of Descartes and Heidegger. By conceiving the subject as a thinking being, René Descartes established the metaphysics of subjectivity and the primacy of the reason to interpret man. In its wake came the scientism in a highly specialized society that corrupted the notion of being and established that time is but a succession of events in a measurable order of movement. However, describing time as a mere sequence of events, one after the other, prevents from giving meaning to the present time and takes away man from his genuine being. In Heidegger’s view, it is necessary to understand time as a determinant of the primary structure of being and weigh mainly the future, which reveals his best hermeneutics.