Martin Heidegger’s Phenology of Death: A Reflection Paper

Sem. Joshua C. Moises | IV Philosophy – Towers

Every moment around the world we see or hear incidents of death on the news,
social media platforms, or among our relatives and friends. Usually, we tend to be
unconcerned about it until it comes close to us or to loved ones. After realizing death as
a potential circumstance, we look for ways and possibilities for to avoid it. Consequently,
we are instilling in in ourselves and others a false sense of security, well-being, and
vitality because death is an inevitable part of human nature that may happen to us even
in the most unexpected time.

Martin Heidegger’s phenomenology of death offers a vivid description of death in

its utmost philosophical sense which resolves human’s indifference towards death. It
does not talk about the concept of afterlife but rather about how man usually perceives
death and how he should perceive it. Death is man’s transition between his existence
and non-existence. Such transition, according to Heidegger cannot be known for a fact
that no one has ever come out alive from death to tell us about death. He described
death as not something that happens but it is something that is impending; we cannot
stop it from coming to us. Heidegger wants us to be authentic beings toward death - to
see death as something not to be hated but rather an impeding event that everyone is to
embrace and look forward with because it is through dying that we realize or mortality.
For Heidegger, our bodies are just mortal matter created in this world that is
imprisoned from our full potential, and it is through dying that we attain it.

I believe that having an authentic attitude towards death invokes us to not evade
and deny our possibility to die. By grasping my possibility of death, I am motivated to
maximize my potentials by always trying to make the best decisions and prioritize the
more important things in life. I anticipate that death not us a curse but a liberation that
will come to me at any given moment. Recognizing my possibility to die surges me to
actualize my life well and mobilize it to existence. In my Christian point of view, it is
helpful to live as an authentic being towards death because it makes me re think my
choices and weigh the consequences before acting on it. Death pushes me to think what
is right and do what is moral for there is a God who rewards us of a happy infinite life
after we die if we have lived accordingly.

Once a man exists at birth, he immediately starts his journey to death. It doesn’t
even matter if we are born unequally for we will eventually die equally. In death, man is
proven to be man - a mortal who existed. To experience death is a fulfillment of our
being thrown in to existence.