ABSTRACT
A central Heideggerian claim is that conscience and guilt are fundamentally important human existentials because they reveal our authentic self-hood and the basis of freedom. The voice of conscience calls us to focus directly on our authentic self. The call of Conscience appeals to fallen Dasein to become an individualized authentic self by summoning Dasein to face up to its own primordial guilt. Heidegger is referring to an ontological guilt, which is an intrinsic part of my Being as Dasein. Authenticity refers to a mode of existence in which I become aware of my own self and own possibilities, and 'choose to choose' my own way of life: to be myself. This authentic outlook can arise out of the mood of anxiety, which can help me to recognize the unique wholeness of my Being. Heidegger explains that resolute Dasein, in a moment of vision, 'makes the situation authentically present'. Heidegger adopted from Meister Eckhart, the fourteenth-century German mystic and theologian.
