Modern economics rests upon a metaphysical conception of time: linear, homogeneous, and quantifiable. This notion underlies the entire edifice of financial valuation, discounting, and interest. This paper argues that Martin Heidegger’s Being and Time (1927) provides a radical ontological critique of this temporal foundation. Whereas economics treats time as a measurable variable, Heidegger reveals temporality (Temporalität) as the existential structure of Dasein itself—experienced rather than calculated. This shift undermines the axiomatic logic upon which all economic valuation rests.

Economic rationality seeks to neutralize the contingency of existence. Through the technological Gestell, the world is reduced to Bestand—a standing-reserve of resources under human command. In this reduction lies Seinsvergessenheit, the oblivion of Being, and the loss of the unavailable (das Unverfügbare). Time becomes space, and value collapses into price. The crisis of modern economics is thus not cyclical but ontological: its incapacity to dwell within the temporality of Being and the finitude of meaning.

The contemporary relevance of Being and Time lies in recovering ontological receptivity—Gelassenheit. Against the logic of accumulation and control that defines the homo oeconomicus, we propose the oikonomikos anthropos: a being who acts out of care (Sorge), measure, and finitude. An economy re-oriented toward Being recognizes value not as possession, but as a temporal revelation within the unfolding of life.

Being and Time, read in this light, is not a metaphysical relic but an existential compass: a passage from calculation to meaning, from possession to presence, from the management of entities to the ontology of existence.

Keywords: Heidegger, Being and Time, economics, temporality, valuation, Sorge, Seinsvergessenheit, ontological economy, Gelassenheit, authenticity.

Paper available on demand : editor@bcgeyskens.com