Denise Joyce T.

Berico
Mylene L. Capricho
BSA-4B
PHILO 104

How does one become fully human by death according to Heidegger and Troisfontaines?

To be a fully human, I must know who I am, what my potentialities are, and my meaning
and purpose in this lifetime. But what if I die tomorrow, have I already achieved my fullness
as a human being? How am I supposed to know if I achieved the state of becoming a truly
human being? Have I known my being? Have I discovered my meaning and purpose?
Heidegger and Troisfontaines offers two concepts There are two concepts of being truly
human through death by presented by Heidegger and Troisfantaines that could guide us in
achieving it.
There is a contrast between the human being, the Dasein and death. Martin Heideggers
main interest is the specific kind of Being which is the Dasein. Dasein is a being-in-theworld, full of endless possibilities, ahead of himself, constantly realizing possibilities that as
long man exist in the world, his potentiality for being is never exhausted. In here, man, as
long as he is, has never reached his wholeness because man always has an unfinished
character. That only means that a man cannot be fully human until he dies, which is the
transition of man from Dasein to no-longer-Dasein. It is according to Heidegger that man
reaches his wholeness in death. In death, a man loses his potentiality for being, his being
human. That only through death, a man can fully grasp how to be fully human.
It is difficult to describe this experience of transition from life to death, because no one
has come out alive to tell about this experience. But we can experience it through the death of
others. We analyze the death of others by substituting and representing it, but representation
is always in something and with something and in death, the totality of man is involved
which is not representable. Thus, death is a not-yet (possibility) which will be, in which
human being will be no-longer-Dasein, and which is his very own. Because this not-yet has to
be, then this not-yet is already accessible to human being. This means that the moment you
live, you are going to die. As long as the human being exists, he is already his not-yet. But a

human being may or may not reach fulfillment of his being at death. Therefore, Dasein, as
long as it exists, is already its end which means that is a being-towards-death.
Heidegger describes Daseins being-towards-death in terms of the fundamental structure
of Daseins being, care, which his basic state is. Care is ahead-of-itself-Being-already-inthe-world as Being-alongside entities which we encounter within the world. The three
characteristics of Dasein are existence (ahead-of-itself), facticity (Being-already-in) and
falling (Being-alongside). In being ahead-of-itself, the human being comes to disclosure of
his extreme possibility, the possibility of his no longer being there. That is a possibility that
does not just happen but is bound to happen. Thus, death is a possibility which will mean my
no-longer-possible, no longer existence. As being already-in, death is also the possibility that
must be, something that I cannot outstrip. It means that I cannot not die. As being-alongside,
death means my being cut-off from others and things, my no longer being related to people
and things. Therefore, man exist in the possiblity of death, though he may go on with his life
without being aware of it.
Roger Troisfontaines,S.J. also presents another notion of death. According to him, death
is the rupture of a certain mode of union with the world, with a beloved person, with his own
body. Death is a great test of love and it differs whether our attachment is made heavy with
the flesh or the body of that beloved one, or is being lifted to the spirit. Troisfontaines f on
the idea that because of the death of a person who is dear to us, our love and faithfulness to
that person is tested. He coined this kind of love a spiritualized love, a love that transcends
beyond death.
Troisfontaines also presented death on the concept of liberty as a condition of freedom
because it depends if the individual would unchain himself from the past after his partner had
ceased. If he would remain faithful to his beloved departed, he is made more freely to love
this person. Moreover, death provokes liberty and it reveals the depths of a persons heart. It
is at once a test for love and a condition of freedom, for freedom has no other profound
significance but to permit love.
Troisfontaines noted that there are two kinds of people in the world. They are those who
are in communion with other people and those who are separated from others. Those who are
in communion with others are experiencing happiness while those who are separated are
feeling sadness or loneliness. This is because man is created to be a social being. Man needs
to relate to other people. Mans nature dictates him to establish connection with other people.
Troisfontaines also noted that death is a path towards freedom. Although many would say
that once a person dies, he will be nothing, that death is the absence of freedom.