O Nada : uma reflexão através de Jean-Paul Sartre e Martin Heidegger

Abstract

The present thesis has been written with two main objectives in mind: the first, to revisit a study about Nothingness, which, as we will see, appears to have been forgotten; the second, to enhance the understanding of the thinking of two of the most relevant philosophers in the history of philosophy: Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980) and Martin Heidegger (1889-1976). The following can be said: despite the word nothing being part of our basic vocabulary, its significance is often explained in a very vague manner. Thus, this investigation examines what can be understood as Nothingness: whether this concept can be reduced to an idea of emptiness/pure nonexistence, or if it is, in fact, something more than that, raising the further question: has everything already been said about Nothingness? In the first chapter, the fundamental terms, ideas, and philosophemes of each philosopher will be established, based on the works Being and Nothingness and Being and Time. Only then can we delve further into the specific philosophical languages of Sartre and Heidegger, respectively. In the second chapter, language will be analyzed as the primary place of understanding the self and the other; we will also see how consciousness operates in the apprehension of the World [both the internal and external]. In the ongoing chapter, the main criticisms that Heidegger raises against metaphysics will be presented — specifically, against its attempt to grasp the essence of beings. Finally, in the third chapter, we will see how the work of art, and indeed, the aesthetic experience, allow for a clear and direct access to Being — consequently, a clear glimpse of the in-itself of Nothingness