Heidegger & People in Relationships

Heidegger & People in Relationships

Many of the YouTube videos we watched had a similar theme: don’t let the little things bother you and enjoy life as it is.  One of the clips about “what people think in relationships but don’t say”, discussed the inappropriate thoughts of both sides in the relationship, but how one can never express these thoughts directly to their partner.  After watching this clip, we conversed about whether people would ever be okay if their boyfriend said something of this sort to their face.  Many of the responses were that they wouldn’t particularly mind because they want to know the true colors of their partner, and not have them pretend to be someone they aren’t in order to impress the other.

I thought it was interesting how this point of view was similar to Martin Heidegger’s philosophy.  His ideas stated that people should be “authentic” to themselves and not spend their time trying to impress others.  Following Heidegger’s philosophy, if you are trying to be yourself and do not care about impressing others, then you should be able to express how you are really feeling about your boyfriend or girlfriend at any time. 

I think, however, that this is not always the case, because it is not always that easy to be true to yourself and not care what others think.  No one wants to be told some of the things that people think about each other, so sometimes it is best for both sides, if some opinions are kept to themselves.  I overall agree with Heidegger’s philosophy, but I think it is a difficult one to actually stay true to and not stray off.  It is so easy to get caught up in what other people think about you and the only way to follow his beliefs is to be a complete individual and not let anything both you.