Proceedings of the XXIII World Congress of Philosophy

Volume 30, 2018

Philosophical Hermeneutics

The Relation between Philosophizing and Living in Aristotle and Heidegger

The present paper undertakes a comparison between Heidegger’s and Aristotle’s understandings in view of the relation between philosophizing and living. First, a relevance of the contemplative life for philosophy in Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics is considered. After such a consideration Heidegger’s understanding of the relation between philosophizing and living is illustrated, which substantially differs from Aristotle’s. This illustration is based on Heidegger’s lecture ‘The fundamental concepts of metaphysics’ (‘Die Grundbegriffe der Metaphysik’). The present paper concludes with a reflection on the importance of reintegrating philosophizing into living for the modern society.