Name: João de Paula Dias Junior
Type: MSc dissertation
Publication date: 28/07/2023
Advisor:

Name	Role
Jorge Augusto da Silva Santos	Advisor *

Examining board:

Name	Role
Jorge Augusto da Silva Santos	Advisor *
Marcelo Martins Barreira	Internal Alternate *
Marcos Aurélio Fernandes	External Examiner *
Renato Kirchner	External Examiner *
Ricardo Corrêa de Araujo	Internal Alternate *

Summary: This paper attempts at analyzing the Christian origins of facticity in the philosophical
development of the young Heidegger, based on the first two lectures from GA 60,
namely, the “Introduction to the Phenomenology of Religion”, from Winter Semester at
Freiburg, in 1920-21, and “Augustine and Neo-platonism”, from Summer Semester,
1921, analyzing the early Christianity, more specifically, the Pauline situation to get to
the Augustinian reflection about the trouble (molestia) and temptations as a constitutive
way of factical life. Thus, this paper has the purpose of making a reflection about
Heidegger’s phenomenological reading of some Pauline epistles and the Book X of
Confessions, by Augustine, trying to recognize in Christianity a concrete example of the
experience of facticity. To do so, first a general overview of what is the factical life and
how Heidegger develops it in his first writings will be done, in order to bring a
genealogy project of facticity and build a structural basis of concepts, so that it is
possible to take the second step, which is analyzing the experience of factual life in the
early Christianity looking for a clarification about the structures of the Christian
facticity to, then, understand the factual experience situation of Paul, the Apostle.
Martin Heidegger understands that the Apostle was able to clearly develop in his
writings the original Christian experience, that is not objectively closed, but is given
existentially in facticity. In the follow up, the next chapter purposes a glance at
Heidegger’s phenomenological reading about Book X of Confessions by Augustine of
Hippo. At this point, it is noted how the curare and the tentatio are given as a
fundamental character of factical life, bringing the trouble (molestia) as the weight of
life in front of existence and the temptations as a way of living the humanity
authentically.
Keywords: Martin Heidegger; phenomenology; Christianity; factical life; Paul;
Augustine of Hippo.