Nick, thanks for your elaboration which raises many more questions.
First of all, is death simply a concept like any other? To answer this
would surely require clarifying what a concept is - on the assumption
that clarifying what death is is not an option - and asking if one
can conceptualize what one cannot clarify. I would be very interested
if any has a reference where Heidegger deals with the concept of the concept.
secondly if death is formally necessary to Heidegger's enterprise to the extent that he has to describe dasein as the mode of access to Dase...Being
then no doubt death is necessary inasmuch as it is inscribed in any
relation to Being, and not as an empirical datum of anthropology.
(I did not actually mean no doubt there this is more of a question
than an assertion). Finally, on reflection I think that if I
questioned the notion of death as a foramal necessity in any
conceptualization, pointing out its exclusion from the realm
of logic (though Kant's categoris do include negation) it was only
because I actually secretly like the idea. But then its not
original. 'The life of Spirit is not the life that turns away
>from death but the one that endures death and conserves itself
in it. Spirit only finds its truth when it fionds itself
absolutely destroyed' (Hegel, translated from a french trans
of the Preface to Phenomenology
mark Hewson
--- from list heidegger@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx ---
First of all, is death simply a concept like any other? To answer this
would surely require clarifying what a concept is - on the assumption
that clarifying what death is is not an option - and asking if one
can conceptualize what one cannot clarify. I would be very interested
if any has a reference where Heidegger deals with the concept of the concept.
secondly if death is formally necessary to Heidegger's enterprise to the extent that he has to describe dasein as the mode of access to Dase...Being
then no doubt death is necessary inasmuch as it is inscribed in any
relation to Being, and not as an empirical datum of anthropology.
(I did not actually mean no doubt there this is more of a question
than an assertion). Finally, on reflection I think that if I
questioned the notion of death as a foramal necessity in any
conceptualization, pointing out its exclusion from the realm
of logic (though Kant's categoris do include negation) it was only
because I actually secretly like the idea. But then its not
original. 'The life of Spirit is not the life that turns away
>from death but the one that endures death and conserves itself
in it. Spirit only finds its truth when it fionds itself
absolutely destroyed' (Hegel, translated from a french trans
of the Preface to Phenomenology
mark Hewson
--- from list heidegger@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx ---