The problem of Cartesian Ego in Martin Heidegger: Critical hermeneutics of modern subjectivity

Abstract

In this paper we will meditate about subjectivity. The way Descartes thought subjectivity was critiqued by Martin Heidegger in his early years and it is matured in the treatise of Being and time. If our philosophy appears as a critic to modernity, our critic to modern subjectivity must confront cartesian philosophy. Firstly, we will approximate to the problem from Hermeneutics of subject by Foucault. After this, we are going to revise how cartesian subjectivity was set and how it limited itself. We will study Heidegger’s contribution for critiquing Descartes in his early years. With his help we will try to demonstrate how modern subjectivity is an artificial product motivated by concern about the world, which in fact Descartes tried to overcome with his philosophy. As a conclusion and proposal, we will introduce Jean Paul Sartre´s thoughts in Being and nothingness, in which subjectivity isn’t comprehended from a modern optic, being based in the other.