This essay examines the concept of meaning in Sein und Zeit. By identifying a paradox in the question constituting the outset of Heidegger’s ontology, i.e. the question of the meaning of Being, the need of a clarification of the concept of meaning unfolds. According to Heidegger, namely, we have been asking the question of Being without even knowing what we mean; we have forgotten to ask the question of the meaning of Being. At the same time, since the actual question of Being necessarily is a question of the meaning of Being, i.e. since we, as human beings and as the sole origin of the question of Being, necessarily mean something with the questions we ask, we have been asking exactly the question we have forgotten to ask. What then, I ask, is this element, that we have been asking for but forgotten to address? What is meaning? Asking this question on the basis of Sein und Zeit, I argue, is necessarily to explore the Being of meaning, since meaning is something found in the constitution of Dasein, the human being, and since the explication of Dasein evolving in Sein und Zeit concerns exactly its Being. After clarifying this question, the study proceeds in three chapters, the first concerning the basic structure of Dasein, the second the understanding, as the knowing of this structure, and the third the explication, in which we finally find the constitutive elements of meaning, i.e. it’s Being. In dialogue with secondary sources, I then aim to discuss the implication of this Being, epistemic as well as political and ethical. Subsequently, I ask what this Being implies for the paradox initially noted.

Den här magisteruppsatsen förenar de tre områdena Svenska kyrkans ekonomiska historia, svensk lönebildningshistoria och Martin Heidegger. Jag hävdar inledningsvis att prästerskapets löner är den bästa utgångspunkten för en ekonomisk-historiker som vill ta sig an Svenska kyrkan, och konstaterar mot bakgrund av tidigare forskning om lönebildning på den svenska arbetsmarknaden att lönebegreppet i bristande utsträckning har bearbetats på den mikrohistoriska nivå jag väljer att kalla ”den mänskliga tillvarons nivå”. För att angripa denna nivå definierar jag lönebegreppet utifrån Martin Heideggers teori om människan och hennes möjligheter i den vardagliga världen. Med grund i Heideggers Vara och tid analyserar jag löneutbetalningarna i kontanter till kyrkoherden i Björklinge församling 1910-1932, samt prästgården som var knuten till tjänsten. Resultaten visar att Heideggers ontologi kan vara fruktbar att använda, men att tillämpbarheten vid empiriska studier ännu är begränsad, och att fortsatt teoretiskt arbete är nödvändigt. / This Master's thesis combines three fields of study, namely the economic history of the Church of Sweden, the Swedish history of wage development, and Martin Heidegger. Initially, I suggest that the wages of the clergy is the best starting point for an economic historian wishing to approach the study of the Church of Sweden. I conclude with regards to previous research on the subject of wage development on the Swedish labor market, that the term ”wage” has been dealt with to an unsatisfying degree on the microhistorical level I have opted to call ”the level of the human condition”. To approach this level I define the term ”wage” based on Martin Heidegger's theory about the human being and her possibilities in the everyday world. Starting out with Heidegger's Being and Time, I analyze the payment of cash wages to the vicar of Björklinge parish 1910-1932, as well as the parsonage tied to that position. The results show that the use of Heidegger's ontology can prove fruitful, though its applicability in matters of empirical studies is yet limited, and that continued theoretical work is needed.