“On Dasein and Anxiety”
by Mike Ryan
“Dasein.” OK so what the heck is Dasein? Translated literally from the German, da-sein means being there (or/and here). However, Martin Heidegger, would have a problem with this definition…Dasein means much more than just merely being there/here.
In German, Dasein is the vernacular term for existence, as in, I am pleased with my existence (ich bin mit meinem Dasein zufrieden) — or we could say in a case of anxiety and nausea, (ich bin mit meinem Dasein nicht zufrieden). For Heidegger, Dasein encompasses Being as fully conscious of self as a Being, with intentionality and temporality–Dasein illuminates and interprets the meaning of Being…in other words a human being.
Sein und Zeit (1927)
Being and Time
Note: Often Heidegger refers to human beings as “Dasein” [as a noun] meaning perhaps, to emphasize the quality of being (verb) dasein (present) as a necessary condition to being a true human being i.e. someone who was aware and conscience of their being.
In Being and Time, Heidegger’s seminal work in philosophy, he uses the term “phenomenological testimony” to describe our ordinary everyday (“ontic”) experience of phenomena. Phenomenological experiences such as guilt and anxiety are defined to us in a matter that is ontological, that is, in terms of what they reveal about the things that are definitive of human existence. For example, Heidegger argues that our feelings of anxiety, testify to the “groundlessness” of human existence, in that any identity that defines who we are comes from the past which we cannot change or a future that is uncertain, except for the inevitability of death which is beyond our control.
Looking at this explanation for anxiety in the light of Husserl’s notion of “phenomenological reduction” and the necessity of bracketing our experiences in order to achieve the state of a true transcendent ego, we can see that what is left may be called “pure being” and is perhaps without a connection to any thing (not Dasein), or any other Dasein.
This leads to many popular critiques of phenomenology in general and Heidegger in particular, that Dasein may lead to an ontological condition known as “solipsism,” where the self is the primary determiner of reality. However, it may be argued that in the light of later existentialist philosophy, the notion that one is entirely responsible for their experience and their being, all ethical decisions are then completely “owned” by the agent or operator of action.
Certainly, this notion of true ownership may not alleviate the feeling of anxiety or nausea once a Dasein confronts their “uniqueness,” (and inevitable destruction), but idea may still give them a sense of control and power over their existence… especially as Nietszche would later “destroy God” and give man a chance to own his life and his choices and thus become the Ubermensch or Superman.
Anxious we may be, but this feeling is more of a growing pain than a hinderance.
Technorati Tags: Add new tag, Being and Time, Being and Time: A Translation of Sein and Zeit, Edmund Husserl, German, German language, God, Human, Martin Heidegger, Necessary and sufficient condition, Philosophy
2009
“On Dasein and Anxiety”
“On Dasein and Anxiety”
by Mike Ryan
“Dasein.” OK so what the heck is Dasein? Translated literally from the German, da-sein means being there (or/and here). However, Martin Heidegger, would have a problem with this definition…Dasein means much more than just merely being there/here.
In German, Dasein is the vernacular term for existence, as in, I am pleased with my existence (ich bin mit meinem Dasein zufrieden) — or we could say in a case of anxiety and nausea, (ich bin mit meinem Dasein nicht zufrieden). For Heidegger, Dasein encompasses Being as fully conscious of self as a Being, with intentionality and temporality–Dasein illuminates and interprets the meaning of Being…in other words a human being.
Sein und Zeit (1927)
Being and Time
Note: Often Heidegger refers to human beings as “Dasein” [as a noun] meaning perhaps, to emphasize the quality of being (verb) dasein (present) as a necessary condition to being a true human being i.e. someone who was aware and conscience of their being.
In Being and Time, Heidegger’s seminal work in philosophy, he uses the term “phenomenological testimony” to describe our ordinary everyday (“ontic”) experience of phenomena. Phenomenological experiences such as guilt and anxiety are defined to us in a matter that is ontological, that is, in terms of what they reveal about the things that are definitive of human existence. For example, Heidegger argues that our feelings of anxiety, testify to the “groundlessness” of human existence, in that any identity that defines who we are comes from the past which we cannot change or a future that is uncertain, except for the inevitability of death which is beyond our control.
Looking at this explanation for anxiety in the light of Husserl’s notion of “phenomenological reduction” and the necessity of bracketing our experiences in order to achieve the state of a true transcendent ego, we can see that what is left may be called “pure being” and is perhaps without a connection to any thing (not Dasein), or any other Dasein.
This leads to many popular critiques of phenomenology in general and Heidegger in particular, that Dasein may lead to an ontological condition known as “solipsism,” where the self is the primary determiner of reality. However, it may be argued that in the light of later existentialist philosophy, the notion that one is entirely responsible for their experience and their being, all ethical decisions are then completely “owned” by the agent or operator of action.
Certainly, this notion of true ownership may not alleviate the feeling of anxiety or nausea once a Dasein confronts their “uniqueness,” (and inevitable destruction), but idea may still give them a sense of control and power over their existence… especially as Nietszche would later “destroy God” and give man a chance to own his life and his choices and thus become the Ubermensch or Superman.
Anxious we may be, but this feeling is more of a growing pain than a hinderance.
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Technorati Tags: Add new tag, Being and Time, Being and Time: A Translation of Sein and Zeit, Edmund Husserl, German, German language, God, Human, Martin Heidegger, Necessary and sufficient condition, Philosophy
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