The Ontology of sociality
ENThe question of social relations presupposes ontological questions. The possibility and cause of a social relation is assumed by, and is thus prior to, the individuals of the relation. In Heidegger’s philosophy, this presupposition is termed Mitsein (Being-with). Mitsein is rich in its characteristics, because it further assumes the spatiality of Dasein. Social relations are relations of mutual influence and exchange thereof, of a mutual-coming-to-be-together as well as of separation. In fact, they are etiological relations. Heidegger offers an analysis of the ontological origin of etiology and the historical change of the notions of aition and cause alongside the history of Being (Seinsgeschichte). The world structured according to the techno-scientific principle, in which we find ourselves today, is the outcome of the Cartesian understanding of space. This is also the space of social relations. Heideggerian concepts can serve as a critique of the mediatization of the world in the time of technology, and point to our bodily existence necessarily attached to our senses and direct, immediate experience. Keywords: body, cause, Heidegger, Mitdasein, space. [From the publication]
