Beyond modernity tracing the existential path from Kierkegaard to the second Heidegger

Abstract

Understanding man as existenee means making man s finitude the positive criteriol1 of every legitimate relation of thought to what transcends it: existential finitude must l10t be “overcome” but thoraughly examined. In the present article reference is made to Kierkegaard, Nietzsehe, Barth, Heidegger, Jaspers, Sartre, and - spilling over into the 18th eentury so as to grasp the nature of “existential” atheism and nihilism fram their beginnings - also Jean Pau! Partieular attention is reserved for Kierkegaard’s dialeetie of “repetition”, the figure of Job in Jaspers, Heidegger’s Kehre and the rale that Heidegger assigns to the “last god”. The essay eoncludes with a eomparison between the irreeoneilable visions of existence in Heidegger and Sartre.