I'm about to go out on a limb here, but bear with me. Last year
I did a paper on the treatments of 'das Nichts' in _Sein und Zeit_
and _Was ist Metaphysik_. Interestingly, by the way, 'the Nothing'
hardly appears _at all_ in any kind of thematic sense in the former
work. When it does appear, however, it shows itself in one of two
principle guises; as _das Nichts der In-der-Welt-sein_, the Nothing
of Being-in-the-world, or as the Nothing of death. In investingating
the subject, I also noticed that, although Angst in the first part
of _SZ_ is in the face of this Nothingness of Being-in-the-world,
Angst in the second half of the treatise is usually spoken of in
connection with the recognition of and confrontation with the
ultimate possibility of no-longer-being-Dasein, namely death.
What I'm suggesting is: is it possible that Being-in-the-world,
when thought in a rigorously temporal sense, _is_ death?
Being-in-the-world can be considered in a certain sense as having
the character of the horizon within or upon which Dasein projects
itself; considered temporally, this projected horizon of course
'ends' with death. Is death, the ultimate nothingness which
as it were 'bounds' Dasein, 'within which' all presencing,
considered temporally, occurs, simply Being-in-the-world considered
in its full temporal articulation?
Add this into the mix and see what you get: in _Was ist Metaphysik_,
it is the possibility of experiencing Angst, the possibility
of Dasein coming to know itself as 'essentially held out into
the Nothing' (the German, I think, is 'Dasein ist Hineingehaltenheit
in das Nichts), which makes it possible for Dasein to experience
the presencing of any beings whatsoever, as the Nothing is
simply the falling away from beings of Being-in-the-world, a
falling away which makes them 'stand out' as present beings.
This experience of Angst is usually tacit, 'sleeping,'
unarticulated and unconscious. It is, nevertheless, the
necessary condition for any experience of beings whatsoever. In
_SZ_ part 2, Heidegger speaks of the Moment, _das Augenblick_,
the _kairos_ within which Dasein's true situation becomes
manifest to itself. In the Moment (I guess I should call
it the Instant in order to evoke its Kierkegaardian and Lutheran
overtones), in which Dasein sees itself as it really is in its
relation to its own death and the real possibilities which this
relation allows, beings are manifested as they truly are.
Now, is the Instant a temporalized version of the revelation
of beings in the experience of Angst described in _Was ist
Metaphysik?_ If it is, this is an indication that death and
Being-in-the-world are synonymous or at least blur into eachy
other when the analytic of Dasein is fleshed out in its
temporal fullness?
Thanks for bearing with me. I'd like to hear what you have to
say about this.
Christopher Doss
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