Heideggers Philosophy of Death / The Death of Ivan Ilych Ivan Ilych was common, his story even more

so. He was a man living falsely, veiled from death, ntil death came for him. !nd tho gh it was not too late for o r protagonist to right his life, which Tolstoy indicates he does, I feel he righted his life at too late a time. Imagine if he wo ld have righted his life years "efore death came for him. Then may"e his happy memories wo ld not have only "een those of his childhood. # t why were his good memories, as he lay there dying, only of his yo th$ Im not s re its simply "eca se of the innocence of childhood that tends to ma%e one happy, " t even more, the innocent authenticity. &o th is a time of a thenticity, tho gh most children do not reali'e this. !nd a thenticity tends to "reed happiness. It seems that Ivan Ilychs only a thentic moments were those of his childhood, and therefore, his only tr ly happy moments were those of his childhood, res lting in his good memories "eing only those of his childhood. # t tho gh innocence may have fled as he "ecame an ad lt, a thenticity did not have to. !nd as I "elieve it does for most, so too it did for Ivan Ilych. # t as death approached Ilych, something a thentic ret rned to him, and with it, something peacef l. (o ld it "e that death and o r awareness of it "reeds a desire for deeper meaning and happiness and that this meaning and happiness can only "e achieved "y way of a thenticity$ If so, Ilychs story is a perfect e)ample of how not to spend o r lives. !ccording to Heidegger, we are Dasein, which means "eing*there or there*"eing. This term sort of represents s as h man "eings and refers to o r h man nat re. !s we e)ist alive, headed for death, we are #eings*towards*the*end. +e m st "e aware of this, we m st ac%nowledge o r "eing as finite. +e need to "e aware that we are going to die. # t this awareness m st "e ta%en farther, as every man %nows he will one day die. Heidegger e)plains the difference "etween act ality and possi"ility of death. It is not eno gh to view death as

act ality. That is simply to say that it is a fact that I will die. -ne m st view their death as more than a fact al statement, they m st view it as a real possi"ility. Heidegger also differentiates "etween e)pecting death and anticipating death. -ne m st anticipate death and not simply e)pect it. .)pectation of death is not a f ll grasping of death. It is too fact al and presents itself as simply the nat ral order of things. !nticipation, on the other hand, ca ses a person, while awaiting death, to spring into action and ma%e the most of their life. Heidegger also defines the they*self as the "eing that has an ina thentic nderstanding and/or relationship with death. Thro gh temptation, tran/ illi'ation, and alienation, the they* self convinces s to treat death as an act ality, an event, and not as a possi"ility. The they*self tempts s to convince o rselves that death is not really o r own, tran/ illises s against death* awareness "eca se it cannot "e shared "y others, and th s alienates s from o r a thentic self "y concealing death. 0 ch a "eing is said to live "y way of falling and el des the reality of death, giving new e)planations for it, nderstanding it ina thentically, and concealing it. -ne who e)ists in s ch a way is ina thentic #eing*towards*death. !n ina thentic nderstanding of death leads to a life lived ina thentically, void of tr e meaning and happiness, as was the case with Ivan Ilych. -n the other side tho gh, we have the a thentic*self, where Dasein e)ists "y having an a thentic nderstanding/relationship with death as possi"ility, and anticipating it, e)ists a thentically. 0 ch a "eing is a thentic #eing*towards*death. !n a thentic nderstanding of death leads to a life lived a thentically. !n a thentically lived life tends to lead to a life with greater meaning and happiness. Incl ded in this a thentic nderstanding of death is the grasping that death is ownmost, non*relational, and not to "e o tstripped. It is my own death, and I alone will die it. 1o"ody else will die my death. It is mine and my own, no"ody elses. !nd no matter what, I

cannot escape it. I cannot do anything to stop it, no matter how hard I fight it. It cannot "e o tstripped. Ivan Ilychs life was of the they*self. He lived as the ina thentic #eing*towards*death. He had an ina thentic relationship with death, and so he lived an ina thentic and meaningless life, always only doing what society considered proper and right. +itho t stopping to / estion it, he wor%ed for the co rt system, married a woman he was not really in love with, and had children he never really seemed to care if he had at all. He and his wife typically had a distant relationship, lac%ing in comm nication and love. !nd it didnt seem he really had a closeness with his children. He and his whole family seemed rather alienated from one another, regardless that they all lived nder the same roof. .ven after losing some children, he still did not comprehend death as his ownmost, non*relational, not to "e o tstripped death. 2(ai s is a man, men are mortal, therefore (ai s is mortal had always seemed to him correct as it applied to (ai s, " t certainly not as applied to himself. Ilych often spent his time wor%ing 3 st to avoid his wife. His life was foc sed on societys definition of propriety and meaningless decor m. He did what he was s pposed to do, and he did it well. He certainly e)isted "y way of falling. He designed his ho se to imitate those of the wealthy, and he always wanted more*more rooms in the ho se or more money, etc. The pleas res connected with his wor% were pleas res of am"ition, his social pleas res were those of vanity. I am slightly conf sed a"o t Heideggers concept regarding a thenticity. +e m st have an a thentic nderstanding of death 4as possi"ility, ownmost, non*relational, and not to "e o tstripped5 in order to live a thentically. -therwise, a thenticity is impossi"le as we wo ld e)ist nder a lie, a del sion, in relationship to death. # t even if we do have an a thentic nderstanding of death, I dont thin% that necessarily means we live an a thentic life, which

Heidegger e)plains is part of o r freedom to choose. I wo ld almost thin% that an a thentic relationship with death wo ld almost nat rally ca se a person to live a thentically, " t if we do have freedom, a person co ld choose to live ina thentically anyway, which wo ld pro"a"ly "e foolish. # t what a"o t those who live a thentically, as in they are tr e to themselves, yet live nder an ina thentic nderstanding of death, s ch as a child$ +o ld that mean that Ivan Ilychs childhood was not a thentic, as a child s ally cannot comprehend death the way Heidegger e)plains it$ !nd so was his childhood only innocent$ -r does s ch a concept only apply to s as ad lts$ .ither way, as Ivan Ilych grew older, he seemed to contin e "ecoming less and less a thentic. Is it the case that one m st have an a thentic nderstanding of death in order to ever tr ly live a thentically$ !"o t living an a thentic life, Ilychs life appears to "e completely ina thentic. # t I / estion how m ch e)istential choice/freedom he really had. Tolstoy even tells s that from early yo th he was by nature attracted to people of high station as a fly is drawn to the light, assimilating their ways and views of life and esta"lishing friendly relations with them. #y nat re so nds rather deterministic and wo ldnt give Ilych a fighting e)istential chance. &et the entire story one cannot help " t thin%, 0top this Ilych. &o live s ch a lie. (hoose to leave s ch false ways. 6ive differently. -pen yo r eyes and "e tr e to yo rself and stop listening to the voices of society. The entire story, it seems Ilych has freedom to change, yet he never does, e)cl ding the ending as he / estions the meaning of life and death, reali'es that the f rther he departed from childhood and the nearer he came to the present the more worthless and do "tf l were his 3oys, "eginning with the 0chool of 6aw, and feels his son %iss his fingers. In class we tal%ed a"o t cigarette smo%ing in terms of determinism and e)istentialism. +e said how its

deterministic in the sense of a person "eing "orn into s ch a time and place where smo%ing is as normal as eating. &et it is e)istential in the sense that they still physically choose to ta%e hold of the cigarette and inhale. In a way, this can "e compared to Ilychs life. He was "orn into a family and society who e)isted "y means of ina thenticity. His father was a phony, holding a 3o" 4as an official5 that he was nfit for, and tho gh his one "rother was considered a fail re, the other was considered a s ccess, following in his fathers footsteps. He was "orn into a world foc sed on what everyone else said was good and proper, not into a world that enco raged a thenticity. !nd he was certainly "orn into a world veiled from death as possi"ility. .ven as Ilych drew nearer to death, Tolstoy informs s that in the depth of his heart he %new he was dying, " t not only was he not accustomed to the tho ght, he simply did not and could not grasp it. He could not nderstand it, and tried to drive this false, incorrect, mor"id tho ght away and to replace it "y other healthy and proper tho ghts. &et still, it seems that all along, e)istentially, he had the choice to leave s ch ways and live a more tr e life. 7 st "efore Ilych dies, we learn that in them 4his family and careta%ers5 he saw himself 8 all that for which he had lived 8 and saw clearly that it was not real at all, " t a terri"le and h ge deception which had hidden "oth life and death. Tho gh I am conf sed and ncertain, may"e the most a thentically lived life, the most meaningf l and happily lived life, can only "e lived once we first have an a thentic relationship with death, and "eca se of that nderstanding, choose to, within o t freedom, live a thentically. I thin% this is Heideggers point. !s 0imon (ritchleys article says, 9ar from "eing mor"id, Heideggers conception of living in the %nowledge of death is a li"erating one. Death is coming, and if we want to savor this life, we m st live a thentically. If were not going to live a thentically, then why live at all$ &et, e)istentially, any h man can change from a life of ina thenticity to one of a thenticity. -ne m st have an a thentic nderstanding of death, and

"eca se of that a thentic nderstanding, so choose to live a thentically in order to get the most o t of life. !nd li%e Ivan Ilych, each second, death is p lling s farther and farther into the "lac% sac%, too. # t we dont have to end p li%e Ilych. His e)ample, co pled with Heideggers philosophy foc sed on a thenticity, can save s. 1ot from death, which all men m st face, " t from something worse*a wasted and meaningless life, followed "y death. 0o, it is "eca se of death that it is so cr cial we live a thentically, and we can only tr ly live a thentically if we first have an a thentic nderstanding/relationship with death. Id li%e to thin% that may"e Im "eginning to nderstand how to philosophise is to learn how to die. !nd may"e death isnt so "ad. :ay"e death is what enco rages s to live.