Abstract

The prominent position of Martin Heidegger’s phenomenology of care in Being and Time continues to make it the primary reference for a philosophical concept of care that extends beyond the boundaries of the discipline. Heidegger presents care as a structural whole that establishes the relationship between human being and the world, treating it in an existential-ontological manner. This approach and its implementation provoked Hans Blumenberg’s theoretical opposition. The article explores Blumenberg’s engagement with Heidegger’s concept of care in both its explicit and implicit ways, thereby illustrating how Blumenberg developed a phenomenological alternative to the relation between care and the world. To achieve this, the article examines how the relation in question is established in the works of both philosophers. It also discusses the underlying presuppositions in each case, the associated implications, and the philosophical consequences. The contribution is divided into the following chapters: 1. Beyond the Fable of Hyginus; 2. Reality: evidence vs. historical reference; 3. World: soil vs. sky; 4. Cura vs. Prometheus; 5. Holism vs. distance; 6. Cultural pessimism vs. philosophy of culture.