The Methodological Role of Angst in Being and Time

Abstract

Heidegger’s analysis of the mood of angst is usually understood in terms of its contribution to the account of authenticity in Division II of Being and Time. I approach the analysis of angst from a different direction, by working out its methodological function in Division I. I distinguish inauthentic falling from the structural phenomenon of falling, and argue that the latter poses a methodological problem for Heidegger: if we are essentially entity-directed, how can we get the unity of our being in view? Heidegger overcomes this difficulty by analysing a mood that tunes us into the ontological: angst. I explain how angst provides this ontological insight, and show how analysis of it leads to questions of truth and reality. This provides a warrant for the placement of the analysis of angst in Division I.