Abstract

Beginning with Being and Time and continuing throughout the later writings, Heidegger develops a radical critique and rethinking of the Western Metaphysical understanding of subjectivity. The question which arises in this critique is the question concerning the will. ;Broadly speaking, the will, in the history of Western Metaphysics, is that which accounts for the enduring "I". Moreover, the will is that which directs all acts of volition, and therefore accounts for the character of self and its moral stance. For these reasons the will has been traditionally understood as the principle of individuality, the source of the subject's specific identity as well as the place of ethical responsibility. ;In our attempt to grasp Heidegger's understanding of will as Entschlossenheit, we first analyze the problem of the will in the history of Western Metaphysics. We attempt to understand the emergence of the problem of the will in the thinking of Augustine, and then ask how this problematic is carried out in the Modern Period, specifically in the thinking of Descartes, Kant, and Schelling. In such an historical examination, we refer at the same time to Heidegger's critique of the traditional understanding of will. ;Heidegger's critique of the traditional understanding of subjectivity and the will provides the basis for Heidegger's understanding of 'will' as Entschlossenheit. We attempt to show how Heidegger understands Entschlossenheit in Being and Time and further, how this understanding accounts for self, determination, decision, and responsibility. Our method in accomplishing this is a detailed and critical analysis of Being and Time. ;We then trace the development of Entschlossenheit through Heidegger's later writings. Specifically, we examine the relationship between Entschlossenheit and Heidegger's later understanding of Gellassenheit. We argue that both notions must be understood as a resolute disclosure which lets Ereignis be. Here we critically analyze Heidegger's later writings, including Heidegger's lectures on Nietzsche, his lectures on the early Greeks, Brief uber den Humanismus, and Gelassenheit. ;In conclusion, we raise the question of an ethics in Heidegger's thinking. We show that Heidegger does provide the place for an ethics in his understanding of the relation between Entschlossenheit and Dwelling