Foi suscitado um debate sobre o significado que Heidegger atribui à palavra “Entschlossenheit”. Normalmente significa determinação, mas deriva do verbo “schliessen”, que significa trancafiar, fechar ou trancar. Entschliessen, então, significa literalmente abrir a porta ou abrir a fechadura. O Dasein resoluto é libertado da sua anterior escravatura ao “impessoal” (das Man) porque escolheu revelar (erschliessen) a sua própria existência finita. Em inglês, o termo “Entschlossenheit” pode referir-se à qualidade de uma imagem ótica. Uma imagem com boa “resolução” é clara e bem definida. Ser e Tempo sublinha a clareza e a determinação necessárias para revelar a própria mortalidade. A tensão voluntarista ou intencional em Entschlossenheit aparece na ideia de “querer ter uma consciência” (Gewissenhabenwollen). Este voluntarismo é característico do subjetivismo que Heidegger esperava transcender.
Conscience is the discourse which belongs to the authentic mode of self-disclosedness. The silent call of conscience is the highest form of communication. In wanting to be called by conscience, an individual must relinquish the numerous self-interpretations offered by the “they” and accept himself as finite openness which is an issue for itself. To hear the call, he must not engage in intensive inner dialogue,” since this is often just a sophisticated way of repressing the summons to authenticity. Acceptance of oneself as finite existence is the understanding which, along with the discourse of conscience, constitutes authentic disclosedness. The third element of authentic disclosedness is the state-of-mind of Angst. Angst is the mood which lets an individual be directly affected and touched by his own mortality, which he usually keeps at a distance (76) as a concept. “This distinctive and authentic disclosedness, which is attested in Dasein itself by its conscience — this reticent self-projection upon one’s ownmost Being-guilty, in which one is ready for Angst — we call ‘resoluteness’.” ([SZ, 296-297/343]) Resoluteness (Entschlossenheit) is authentic disclosedness (Erschlossenheit). Because all existence tends toward concealment, even authentic disclosedness is never completely transparent. “Even resolutions remain dependent upon the ‘they’ and its world.” ([SZ, 298/345-346]) Resoluteness is a decisive disclosure of my own specific possibilities; it is not a theoretical picture of what I am “in general.” Heidegger emphasizes that “resolution is precisely the disclosive projection and determination of what is factically possible at the time.” ([SZ, 298/345]) As resolute, I am open for my own particular possibilities.
Debate has been aroused concerning the meaning Heidegger assigns to the word “resoluteness.” It usually means decisiveness but derives from the verb “schliessen,” meaning to latch, shutter, or lock. Entschliessen, then, literally means to un-shutter or un-lock. Resolute Dasein is freed from its former bondage to the “they” because it has chosen to disclose (erschliessen) its own finite existence. In English the term “resolution” can refer to the quality of an optical image. An image with good “resolution” is clear and well-defined. Being and Time stresses the clarity and determination necessary for disclosing one’s mortality. The voluntaristic or willful strain in resoluteness appears in the idea of “wanting-to-have-a-conscience” (Gewissenhabenwollen). Such voluntarism is characteristic of the subjectivism which Heidegger hoped to transcend. (1981 p. 75-56)