Being and time: the question concerning environmentalism

Abstract

This thesis endeavors to determine whether Martin Heidegger's Being and Time is consistent with environmentalism. Hubert Dreyfus' characterization of Being and Time as the decisive step towards technology will provide evidence for the non-environmental character of Being and Time. Joseph Fell and W. S. K. Cameron will demonstrate an inability to reconcile Being and Time with environmentalism, and Paul Farwell will be unable to change my conception of the authentic status of producing. My exegesis of Being and Time will determine that the being-in-the-world of Dasein is understood through a technological horizon in which all entities are subordinate to a productive and pragmatic schema. What Dasein primarily encounters in the environment is not a robust understanding of nature as inherently valuable, but raw material. Thus, I will conclude that Being and Time is inconsistent with environmentalism.