On 10/30 William Lenco wrote:
"Now this "Death" Heidegger says is "possible at each and every
moment" but taking this in the way it is commonly taken is to make what I
see as a fatal flaw when in comes to reading about Death in Heidgger. (Sit
back - this might take a bit).
" When you think of Dasein as being constituted by "understanding"
(read: "possibility" or "not-yet") then you get a better sense of death
"being-possible" at "each and every moment". This does not mean that we can
die at "any time". It does not mean that any second now we could keel over.
It does not even mean that every instant contains within it the possibility
that we could die (which is how it is normally taken). Although, all these
things are true.
"What is does mean is much more subtle and deep than that. It means
that at every moment I am "die-ing". Being-towards-the-end is always a
possibility that I have (*have contained within my Being* and not as a
possibility of something that *could happen to me*)."
I agree with what is said here, but I would add that "dying" in Heidegger's
sense also implies that one is intentionally related toward one's own death.
That, I take it, is the import of the phrase "being-toward-death": it's not
just
that I have death as a possiblilty, but also that I speak about my own death,
I have opinions about it, I "intend" it, in the phenomenological sense.
("Being-
toward" is a technical term in Heidegger's phenomenological lexicon.)
Note also that being-toward-death is not the same as _authentic_ being-
toward-death. Being-toward-death simply speaking is an unavoidable
existential structure. But it's quite possible, as Heidegger argues, to be-
toward death in an inauthentic way, in which my intention of my own death
is wholly derived from the public interpretation of death of I have absorbed
>from others.
Phil Miller
--- from list heidegger@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx ---
"Now this "Death" Heidegger says is "possible at each and every
moment" but taking this in the way it is commonly taken is to make what I
see as a fatal flaw when in comes to reading about Death in Heidgger. (Sit
back - this might take a bit).
" When you think of Dasein as being constituted by "understanding"
(read: "possibility" or "not-yet") then you get a better sense of death
"being-possible" at "each and every moment". This does not mean that we can
die at "any time". It does not mean that any second now we could keel over.
It does not even mean that every instant contains within it the possibility
that we could die (which is how it is normally taken). Although, all these
things are true.
"What is does mean is much more subtle and deep than that. It means
that at every moment I am "die-ing". Being-towards-the-end is always a
possibility that I have (*have contained within my Being* and not as a
possibility of something that *could happen to me*)."
I agree with what is said here, but I would add that "dying" in Heidegger's
sense also implies that one is intentionally related toward one's own death.
That, I take it, is the import of the phrase "being-toward-death": it's not
just
that I have death as a possiblilty, but also that I speak about my own death,
I have opinions about it, I "intend" it, in the phenomenological sense.
("Being-
toward" is a technical term in Heidegger's phenomenological lexicon.)
Note also that being-toward-death is not the same as _authentic_ being-
toward-death. Being-toward-death simply speaking is an unavoidable
existential structure. But it's quite possible, as Heidegger argues, to be-
toward death in an inauthentic way, in which my intention of my own death
is wholly derived from the public interpretation of death of I have absorbed
>from others.
Phil Miller
--- from list heidegger@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx ---