Martin Heidegger and the Augustinian Neoplatonism

Abstract

The paper examines Augustine’s lasting influence on Martin Heidegger’s work. In volume 60 of Heidegger’s Gesamtausgabe (named The Phenomenology of Religious Life), the German philosopher deals with the augustinian concept of Curare in relation to the phenomena of memoria and tentatio as presented in Confessions. For Heidegger, Augustine’s writings serves as a hermeneutic source fitto demonstrate how the bringing about of a christian Worldview, anchored on Curare, provides an image that will allow Heidegger to formulate ‘care’ (Sorge) as Dasein’s existential. Thus, the paper has the purpose of demonstrating how the concept of Curare serves as a prototype for what Heidegger later denominates as Sorge in Sein und Zeit.