Human identity, love, and freedom. Considerations on Heidegger and Binswanger concerning the ground and possibility of encountering the other

Abstract

The article is a phenomenological-hermeneutic analysis that seeks, by moving between Heidegger's ontology and Binswanger's anthropology, to show the enabling foundation of encountering the other and loving them. To this end, it highlights that phenomena depend on a certain structure that constitutes human (co)existence: Being-with (Mitsein). Despite the differences in interpretations of this structure in the ontological-existential and anthropological horizons, both meanings include an essential reference to “us” in the understanding of human identity or ipseity (Selbstheit). Following this line of thought, we first discuss the Being-with through Heideggerian thought, articulating its meaning with other structures of Dasein, among them, the world as a space for the liberation and care of the other in their way of being and, consequently, of genuine encounter with them. Next, when considering this structure through the lens of Binswanger's anthropology, the discussion turns to loving being-one-with-another, emphasizing that the foundation is shifted to the realm of the original encounter between “I” and “you,” namely, nostrity (Wirheit). These two paths lead to the question of human identity. By alluding to it in the conclusion, it indicates where the “we” resides as the foundation of the (loving) encounter.