Judgment And Existence: A Study Of Heidegger 's Theory Of Judgment

Reflection on Logic is an important topic in Martin Heidegger’s works. Many researches have been devoted to it in the Western academia. In China, however, specialized studies in this regard are still lacking. The dissertation, based on Heidegger’s early works (1912-1935) on logic, summarizes the background and the structure of Heidegger’s theory of judgment, analyzes its function in the later evolution of Heidegger’s thought, reveals its groundbreaking creation in the theory of judgment in intellectual history, and discusses its revelation to us.The dissertation consists of three chapters. The first chapter elucidates the theory of judgment of early Heidegger, taking neo-Kantism and phenomenology as its background. The second chapter makes a comparison of the theory of judgment between Heidegger and Husserl. The third chapter expounds Heidegger’s ontological interpretation on traditional theory of judgment.By criticizing psychologism, logicism and phenomenalistic theory of judgment, Heidegger establishes his ontological theory of judgment. The dissertation discriminates the differences between Heidegger’s thought and the four theories, and thus elucidates the five innovations of Heiddegger. Firstly, Heidegger breaks through from logicism theory of judgment and deconstructs the theory of meaning validity. Secondly, Heidegger clarifies the essential characters of judgment on the level of ontology. He point outs three ontological meanings of judgment:1) revealing beings in the world and letting it be a being;2) giving predicate to beings;3)making predicated beings seen by the public. Thirdly, Heidegger discovers that the original place of truth is not in judgment, but, on the contrary, judgment is in truth. Fourthly, the "is" in judgment is not only a copula of logic or grammar, but having its root in life and practice. Lastly, by interpreting theory of judgment of Leibniz and Kant, Heidegger reveals that traditional rationalism does implicate ontological ground, while logic of proposition forgets this ground, distorting the essence of judgment. This falsification results in one-sided dominion of intellectuality in western society. Reason has degenerated into a trap in the modern society. Such degeneration may be traced back to the decay of theory of judgment.As Heidegger’s reflection on theory of judgment reveals, logic and reason should not be dominant in our life, because they separate us from our true being. Human life should not be trapped in reason. By resolving the dispute of translating Being into“是”or“存在”,Heidegger’s theory of judgment also gives a worthy view.