The Conception of Man as Da-sein in Heidegger's Letter "On Humanism"

This article analyzes Heidegger's letter On Humanism" and its conception of man as an ecstatic relationship with the opening of being. Reacting to the challenges posed by Sartre's existentialist philosophy, Heidegger not only reveals the origins and shortcomings of ideological thinking, he also elaborates ideas that are familiar to existentialism about the necessity of a different thinking in relation to human existence. The article focuses on comparative analysis of the ideas of Heidegger and Sartre as well as Heidegger's thoughts about the particularity of human existence. By getting deeper into the conception of primordial essence of the human being in Heidegger's philosophy, there emerges the unique relationship between ecstatic man and being which makes man an exceptional creature in respect to other beings. From here arises Heidegger's conviction that the deepest essence of the human being is existence or, in other words, the ability to be an open space for the opening of being.