The question of being, the problematic nature of existence and religion

Abstract

The relation between the question of being and the problem of existence can be interpreted in diverse ways, depending upon one’s conception of ontology and of existential reflection. The first moment in the analysis of this relation consist in posing the question of being and the question of existence; doing this presupposes one’s having grasped the need, the legitimacy, and the possibility of formulating these two questions. A certain circularity between the question of being and the problem of existence can be affirmed, insofar as a particular conception of being will condition the interpretation of existence, and, conversely, a way of apprehending existence will orient the understanding of being. Finally, the question posed by the finitude of existence is tied to the theme of religion, which points to a connection between the question of being, the problem of existence and the theme of religion. In these pages the relation between the question of being and the analysis of existence is studied in two authors: Martin Heidegger (the first phase) and Cornelio Fabro. The aim is to show, in the analysis of the modality of the ontological question in each author, the modality of the understanding of existence and the modality of being that are reached; these condition the possibility of the passage to religion.