The unity of the manifold : Heidegger's interpretation of the synthesis between Husserl and Kant

Abstract

The aims of this thesis is to investigate Heidegger’s idea of “sense” as a unity of manifold. The analysis of this problem is carried out with particular regard to two sources of Heidegger’s thinking: Husserl and Kant. The thesis is divided into three parts: I. The Logic of Ideality:; II. The Grammar of the Sense; III. The Manifold of Time. The first part deals with Heidegger’s criticism of the notion of ideality as universality. This part has two goals. First of all, it aims to show how, in Heidegger’s perspective, the structure of ideality has its roots in a ‘logical interpretation’ of the truth; secondly, it aims to shed more light on the twofold role (positive and negative) that Husserl plays in Heidegger’s genealogy of ideality. The second part takes into account the different forms and sources that characterizes Heidegger’s account of the problem of sense and meaning. The aim of this part is to investigate the complex relation between formal structures of meaning and temporality. Particular attention is given to the notion of Als-Struktur. The third part is devoted to Heidegger’s interpretation of Kant. A first goal is to define the phenomenological framework of Heidegger’s interpretation of the synthesis. Some important and well known aspects of Heidegger’s interpretation (for example the rejection of the distinction between Aesthetic and Analytic) are understood here as a consequence of his account of sense and meaning. A second goal is to provide a detailed account of Heidegger’s interpretation of Kant’s A-Deduction. In particular, this section focuses on the relation between synthesis of apprehension, synthesis of reproduction and synthesis of recognition; this also section emphasizes the priority of the third form of synthesis (that Heidegger labels as “synthesis of identification”) over the synthesis of reproduction. The section ends with some considerations concerning the radicality as well as the limits of Heidegger’s idea of temporal synthesis.