The Nature of Human Existence: Consciousness, Being, and Language

The Nature of Human Existence

1. On Human Being as 'Being-Itself'

• A) Human beings can exist like other objects, but they exist only as beings who are themselves. To the extent that they are aware, they can relate with themselves, and this means 'being-itself'.

• B) To be oneself is the way we are, and it is practical in a sense because it is a doing. We continually choose between continuing to exist or ceasing to exist. Any decision to make something is not just a mere implicit decision to continue to exist, but in addition, a specification of how we want to continue our existence.

• C) Only a being-itself is in the world. The world is not merely the sum total of things that compose the universe. Being in the world means to dwell in the world and be familiar with it. The world for a human being is as he is in his existence. It is the horizon covered by his love, his thinking, and feeling; in short: the horizon of his care for this being that he has to be, whether he wants to or not.

Modes of Being in the World: Understanding and Attunement

I) Understanding

• A) The human being is delivered to its existence; he has to assume and take on this: there is a project to be, in which he projects possibilities through which to realize that existence.

• B) To be a human being is primarily to be possible, not casually, but always, something that is not yet. He anticipates what is going to be from the possibilities in which to realize his being.

II) Attunement (State of Mind)

• A) Being thrown into existence and having to be as one desires, means for human intimacy with oneself within a particular emotional tone about oneself and how one appears in the world.

• B) In these states of mind or vital temper, a human being is with himself, his life, or his existence forever in a certain way. In this vital core, we suffer the repercussions of existential failure, or we have to pursue the meaning of this existence, and simultaneously, this vital openness reveals existence always as good or bad, meaningful or meaningless.

Thought and Language

1. Thought

• A) Thought is an activity or process that is characterized by the following properties:

  • I) Intentionality

    This is the capacity of states and mental events to be about objects or states of affairs in the world. Beliefs are typically states that have this property: when one believes, desires, hopes, or fears, one necessarily wants to believe something, to hope, or to fear. Intentions are also intentional states among many others: when someone has an intention, the intention is about something specific.

    The word 'intentionality' refers to the direction or focus of the mind towards an object. Intentional states generally relate to objects or states of affairs that they deal with through representation, which is linguistically articulated.

    In intentional states, we distinguish between the content of the intentional act and the means or the psychological attitude presented. For example, I can believe that Juan smokes, or want Juan to smoke, or hate that Juan smokes. In all these cases, we have the same representative content (Juan smokes) and three different psychological modes: belief, desire, and hatred, respectively.

  • II) Consciousness

    This mental state is characterized by being aware, by learning about oneself through self-attributions of mental states.

    Self-attributions are not merely expressions of a subject's knowledge of his mental states, but of mental states themselves. Similarly, trying to achieve something is a direct expression of the desire to achieve it; such a desire is broadcast as a direct expression, in this verbal case.