Das vieldeutige Phänomen “Natur” in der Denkphase von Sein und Zeit

In this paper we undertake a systematic examination of the multifaceted phenomenon of nature in Being and Time. Primarily, nature refers to a being that can present itself to Dasein in various ways. First, we trace the modifications of its self-showing and being in accordance with the modifications of Dasein’s existential comportment and understanding of Being. In accordance with Being and Time we begin with an analysis of the immediate concern with the “world”, where nature is discovered in the light of readiness-to-hand as something either useful or harmful, up to the adoption of the theoretical stance, in which it is thematized merely as a homogeneous research object in the sense of mere presence-at-hand. Subsequently, taking into account some of Heidegger’s insights, we develop a possible experience of nature in terms of passive and calm contemplation, which neither instrumentalizes nor objectifies it but allows it to be encountered in its original Being or in its “naturalness”. We then further determine this naturalness of nature through a hermeneutic-phenomenological approach to Kant’s analysis of the beautiful and the sublime in the Critique of Judgment.