The Most Fundamental Question

As we delve into a time where technology and the constant urgency of life pushes us further into the idea that we cannot look into what is occurring in front of us, but rather what is ahead of us the idea of “being” has taken on the meaning more consistent to “going through the motions” rather than actually setting oneself completely within what is happening in front of them. The very idea of this has become muddled, and our minds have become clouded in worrying about consequences of our actions that may not play out for days, weeks, or months, and we assume that we will be around long enough to see them play out. This constant looking ahead is what has caused us to lose who we are now, and in losing this we lose who we are in the future. This seems to be a sickness that has plagued man not only these days but in the past as German philosopher Martin Heidegger (1889-1976) recognized this occurring in front of him and in an effort to bring a remedy to the situation which he believed was caused by western philosophy’s nihilistic tendencies, so he posed the question, “why are there beings at all instead of nothing?”1 This question seemed more than appropriate as its seems we today, much as man seemed to be when the question was originally posed continue to ignore or lose our sense of being, allowing for the word to simply become muddled in with the rest of our every day vocabulary. Heidegger believed that metaphysics, or all philosophy in general, “aims at the first and last grounds of beings, and it does so in a way that human beings themselves, with respect to their way of Being are emphatically interpreted and given their aim. This readily gives the impression that philosophy can and must provide a foundation for the current and future historical Dasein of people in every age, a foundation for building culture.”2 With this said, the question “why is there being at all instead of nothing?” takes the floor because for him the question is imperative in determining the ground of beings themselves. He states in his work Introduction to Metaphysics that this question is “the tool necessary to determine the ground of all beings, and that man is special in the sense that although all things are being, only man can recognize the question of what it means to be.”2 His belief is that through this question one can begin the interrogation of being and with that resurrect the Dasein, the “being there” completely within the moment, that brought Europe and primarily Germany to greatness through it forcing the people in that time to be just that, great, unabated by the consequences of their actions, but rather acting in accordance with their being. This is why he believes the fundamental question is so important, as to understand it and the power within it is to understand and improve who we are and who we will be. On the opposite side there is the view of someone who would certainly be described as one of Nietzsche’s Last Men. Nietzsche describes these people in a passage of his work Thus Spoke Zarathustra: “Have left the regions where it was hard to live, for one needs warmth. One still loves one's neighbor and rubs against him; for one needs warmth...One still works, for work is a form of entertainment. But one is careful lest the entertainment be too harrowing. One no longer becomes poor or rich: both require too much exertion. Who still wants to rule? Who obey? Both require too much exertion. No shepherd and one herd! Everybody wants the same, everybody is the same: whoever feels different goes voluntarily into a madhouse. 'Formerly, all the world was mad,' say the most refined, and they blink...One has one's little pleasure for the day and one's little pleasure for the night: but one has a regard for health.” 'We have invented happiness,' say the last men, and they blink."3 These people, Nietzsche believed would be the product of the growing nihilism that he believed is destined to dominate the western world. With all of this said, the Last Man would respond that we have found the answer to “why is there something instead of nothing?” and that being itself has become obvious to us, and requires no further explanation. The question for them is no longer of any relevance. Nietzsche himself seemed to lean in the direction that being was not and important concept in philosophical pursuits as he refers to being mockingly as one of the “highest of concepts”. He goes on to call it, “the last smoke of evaporating reality”4. Being to him simply was not a worthwhile pursuit, as it would lead to nothing but chasing one’s tail. Rather, he thought that reality was in a constant state of becoming. Reality for Nietzsche is not some sort of unified constant that being seems to offer, for him rather, it is ever evolving and “being” is some sort of “empty fiction”5. It must be stressed however the Nietzsche was no Last Man; he simply believed that this question is a waste of time and effort, in other words, irrelevant. So as these two philosophers seem to disagree on what could be the very foundation of all philosophies: the question, “why are there beings at all instead of nothing?” is it still, or was it ever the most fundamental question? Is it still relevant for our use today? This is indeed the case. To say that this question is not the most fundamental is to say that we have in fact found an answer for it and have moved on to a question that would have been lying behind this one. That however is not the case. To say that this question is not the most fundamental is to say that it is no longer relevant and no longer holds a purpose to us, it is to say that we know an answer to it and in that answer we can determine what is and is not relevant towards. This is not the case as Heidegger himself says, “to know means to be able to stand truth. Truth is the openness of beings. To know is accordingly to be able to stand in the openness of beings, to stand up to it. Merely to have information, however wide-ranging it may be is not to know. Even if this information is focused on what is practically most important through courses of study and examination requirements, it is not knowledge. One who carries such information around with him and has added a few practical tricks to it will still be at a loss and will necessarily bungle in the face of real reality, which is always different from what the philistine understands by closeness to life and closeness to reality. Why? Because he has no knowledge, since to know means to be able to learn.” Being is relevant to everything, it is ultimate, and to categorize it is to say that it is no longer relevant to something has nothing to do with actually answering the question, but rather ignoring it, due to the fact that we don’t have an easy answer is simply the unwillingness to learn from it. Instead of learning from the question being they look towards the “facts” that science provides, however their idea of facts are; one, constantly in flux, and two, they only examine what is occurring through a stronger and stronger microscope, not why what is happening is, and so it really doesn’t tell us anything we didn’t already know. However in asking this question and coming to understand, or even attempt to understand being, holds more answers to the issues that hold a real importance. Even if the question is no longer deemed relevant, if we are in fact in the age of the Last Men, under everything else the question will still be lingering, waiting to force itself into the fold. The biggest problem Nietzsche had was determining what would bring an end to the nihilism of the Last Men and bring about the age of the Übermensch, and to this problem he never found a prescription, he was only able to give the warning. Well, this question, “why is there being instead of nothing?” the most fundamental question is the answer. It pushes us into the further questioning “being” with questions like, “how does it stand with being?” it forces us to further understand ourselves and our historical existence from which we can draw out our being, as history is what is happening in the present. History is not going anywhere while the present itself quickly fades away. It is shaped by the future, and with that our historical being is brought from its very inception up to the surface and lays out future possibilities for us, and with that shapes our decisions while our history is happening. When this is brought to light during our most trying and uncomfortable times it forces us to uncover our potential for greatness, as it brings to light essentially what our historical identity has determined what we as an individual are all about. That potential is the remedy that will guide us away from, or out of the threat of nihilism, it is what will save the west from itself. The understanding of being may become cloudy and blurry as time goes on, but it will always be, and because of that it will save us from the easy lull of thanatos, as it will still have the potential to force itself outward and make itself visible even in the darkest and most trying times. In conclusion it is the extra push that the fundamental question provides us in the understanding of being that will jettison us out of the darkest and most uncomfortable of times by fostering the potential for greatness inside of us until it is able to seize the opportunity to spring to center stage and make itself known. It will provide the avenue into further, deeper questioning that will ultimately lead to our understanding of our reality and ourselves. It is the most fundamental of questions and it will forever be relevant.