Martin Heidegger: Dasein

OBJECTIVES:
- Define what is dasein
- Define the importance of dasein
- Discover Martin Heidegger indenfication
- Learn Martin Heidegger contribution towards philosophy
BIOGRAPHY OF MARTIN HEIDEGGER
- Martin Heidegger (26 September 1889 – 26 May 1976) was a German philosopher who is best
known for contributions to phenomenology, hermeneutics, and existentialism. He is among the
most important and influential philosophers of the 20th century.
- Heidegger was born in rural , the son of Johanna and Friedrich Heidegger.
- Studying theology at the University of Freiburg while supported by the church, He later switched
his field of study to philosophy.
- In the two years following, he worked first as an unsalaried Privatdozent then served as a soldier
during the final year of World War I; serving "the last ten months of the war" with "the last three
of those in a meteorological unit on the western front".
- Heidegger taught courses at the University of Freiburg from 1919-1923. See his published
courses in Gesamtausgabe. Early Freiburg lecture courses, 1919–1923.

HEIDEGGER’S CONTRIBUTION TOWARDS PHILOSOPHY

- Martin Heidegger's radical break with traditional philosophical assumptions and language and the
novel themes and problems treated in his work. Reinvigorated, Phenomenology and
Existentialism and contributed to new movements such as philosophical hermeneutics and
postmodernism.
Dasein
 It is a combination of two German words, these are:
“Da” and “Sein”
“Da” means there
“Sein” means being
Together they form Dasein.

 existence
 The use of the word BEING is intended to indicate that life is more of an activity than a
condition or state for humans.
 The idea of Dasein as a starting point for exploring what it means to be—to have one's own
being, one's own death, and one's own truth.
 Its primary activity is to question the nature of being, emphasizing the capacity to reflect on and
ponder their own existence.
The 3 important features:
Social Dimension
- Always understanding itself in terms of a certain social role.
For example, you are a teacher, you define yourself as teacher living in a word of a teacher. And
when you teach, the activity defines you as a teacher. You see yourself in a certain way in this
society.
Mood or Emotion
- You are always in a certain mood.
May it be bored, anxious, excited etc. These moods reflect and alter our experiences in life. And
this mood became a steppingstone for us to understand who we really are.
Death
This one is important for Heidegger.
- Heidegger is interested whether we face up to it or dodge it and duck it.
And this further links to the topic of authenticity and inauthenticity.
- In authenticity, individuals realize that they will eventually pass away and live to that fact.
Basically, you accept that you are temporary in this world and that death will come to you.
- Inauthenticity on the other hand, ignores the fact that we will eventually pass away, and they
happen to pretend to be someone else.