Care (Sorge)

Definition

Care (Sorge) is heidegger-martin's term for the Being of dasein. "The Being of Dasein is care" (Being and Time, §42). Care is the unified structure of three equiprimordial elements: existentiality (Being-ahead-of-itself), facticity (Being-already-in-the-world), and fallenness (Being-alongside entities within-the-world). The full formulation: "Being-ahead-of-itself-Being-already-in-(the-world)-as-Being-alongside (entities within-the-world)" (§41, H. 192). Care is not a psychological state but the ontological structure that makes all ontic concern possible. The ontological meaning of care is temporality.

Key Thinkers

• heidegger-martin — developed the concept in Being and Time (1927) as the culmination of the preparatory analytic of Dasein; care is revealed through the phenomenon of conscience and anticipatory resoluteness.
• arendt-hannah — critiques Heidegger's care-centered ontology; positions natality (the capacity to begin) as the central political category against Heidegger's being-toward-death.

Related Concepts

• dasein — the entity whose Being is care.
• temporality — the ontological meaning of care; the ecstatic unity of future, past, and present.
• being-toward-death — authentic Being-toward-death reveals care as a whole.
• fallenness — one of the three elements of care.
• being-in-the-world — the structure within which care operates.

Source Support

Sources in the wiki that discuss care:

• heidegger-1927-being-and-time — the foundational analysis (§41-42, §60, §65); care as the Being of Dasein, temporality as its meaning.
• arendt-1958-the-human-condition — critique of Heidegger's care-centered ontology; natality vs. mortality.

Open Questions

• Can care be operationalized for architectural critique, or does it remain a philosophical abstraction?
• How does care relate to dwelling? Is dwelling the concrete mode of care?
• What is the relationship between care and consumerism? Does consumer culture distort care? being temporality Dasein Sorge