Module 4 – Phenomenology of Death

- As long as you are, you are not yet

- Your being is always

- We are always being thrown into the world, and the world always responds to our

being/pagmemeron

- As long as you exist, you are incomplete, but not unfulfilled

- The moment you are born, you start dying

- I die alone, and I alone die | I am only me | it concenrns my own most being | I cannot ask

someone to die in my place | it is total, since it concerns the total of dasein

- One loses something because one has it | But death is total | the oneness is lost

- Death may occur at any moment | imanent | one does not know when one will die | may

occur at any moment into infinity

Martin Heidigger

- Man’s being is dasein | there-there, the being of man, NOT A BIOLOGICAL PERSON

- Dasein | being-in-the-world | man is always within the world, the world is not a world

without man

o We cannot speak of being without the world, we cannot speak of the world

without being | we are concerned with our being of our selves, we are our own

biggest question | pagmemeron | my being is an issue for my being

o To be objective means to be a subject

o To be a subject means to be subjected to an object of thought

- We speak of the world because man is situated in it

- Heidigger took the phenomenological insight into dasein

o Being in the world is related to dasein

- Dasein allows beings to be manifest | pagmemeron | allowing encounters with them to be

possible

- Dasein confronts situations where it finds itself as a range of possibilities

o Dasein emerges as a delicate balance of determination (thrownness) and freedom

(projection)

- Sorge or care | being-ahead-of-itself-already-being-in-the-world as being-together-with-

beings-encountered-in-the-world

o Having freedom to choose

o Being in the world | present

o Being together with other beings encountered in the world

- Three temporal dimensions of Sorge

o Past | thrownness | determination | disposeness | the self finds itself in a world of

givens and historicity

o Future | projection/understanding | NOT A PLAN | more about the self

always having a future because I am a self due to Dasein | ahead of itself-ness

| of existence | TO BE IS TO NOT YET BE | unfulfilledness =/=

incompleteness | laging may bukas | future is uncertain | we have a future

because we have a present

o Present | Fallenness/Fascination | things we identify with

- Future
 o Once thrown into the world, the dasein constantly actualizes its possibilities

o We will be because we are

o As long as man exists, potentiality is infinite

o As long as self is, the self is not yet

o Dasein is also being ahead-of-itself

 Always an unfinished character

o Something always out-standing in man

o Since dasein is ahead-of-itself, it is already its end

 End of dasein is being-towards-death

o Ultimate potentiality = Death

 We will die because we are alive

o We only lose something that we have | Material Loss is Partial | Death is Total

o We die alone, we alone die

Four Characteristics of Death | End of Dasein

- Nonrelational

o All relations to other Dasein are lost | Death is Total

- Certain

o Since dasein is ahead of itself, it is the ultimate possibility

o When dasein exists, it is already thrown into this possiblity | We die because we

are alive

- Indefinite
 o Possible at any moment | eminent imminence | we do not know when this

certainty will arrive

- Unsurpassable

o Death is the unsurpassable possibility of dasein | there are no longer any other

possibilities beyond Death | Potentialities are Ended

Being Towards Death: Dasein

- Dasein does not always fulfill in death

- Since dasein is ahead of itself

- End of dasein is being TOWARDS death

o We carry our own potentialities because of our forestructures

o Due Structure of Sorge

 Threefold temporality of dasein | Past | Future | Present (facticity)

- Since man is ahead of himself, there is a potentiality of the man not being there

Two Attitudes Being Towards Death

1. Inauthentic Being Towards Death

- Concealed in everydayness of concern (fallenness towards/being with other people)

o Fascination we have with theyself (dasman)

o Not authentic because caught up in grind of everyday living, so for them, death is

a small possibility | something that is taboo to talk about | not normal

o Heidigger thinks that, it is weird that, even though we have death in our being, we

do not want to talk about it

 o In effect, this attitude thinks that Death is not part of Life, and that Death is a part

of Fallenness

 In this case, dasein has fallen away from its authentic potentiality for

being itself

 This is not bad, but we have forgotten we are a being towards death

 This attitude thinks of Death as nothing to do with us, it is distant

 It occurs to not us, but Others/They

- Who are the They? | Where are we Falling? | What are we Fascinated with?

o By Others (not in Identity sense), we mean those that are like us, who treat Death

as distant

o Others | Dasman | We share the world with Others

- We lose what it means to be Dasein | to be Authentic Being Towards Death

2. Authentic Being Towards Death

- Heidigger does not agree with Inauthenticity Towards Death

- Being Towards Death Attitude: we must embrace death as one of our ultimate

potentialities, as within the structure of dasein

- Anticipation of a potentiality of being of that being whose kind of being is in anticipation

itself

o If Death is those 4 Characteristics (Almost, Nonrelational, Nonsubstitutional,

Certain), we must understand Death is one of our potentialities | How to approach

our being towards death | anticipation regarding this possibility

- To be itself in passionate ANXIOUS (Angst = to anticipate the indefinite certainty of

death, Dasein is open to a constant threat, Anxious is to be Anxious that you will die)

freedom towards death, free of illusions, and is certain

- To be Anxious is to anticipate death

o To be Anxious, is to await the inevitable

o The Moment of Angst | This is It | There is no other life we will live | We only

know this life |

o Our existence is future oriented

o Moving away from Fallenness to the Theyself is for Heidigger | mamatay rin tayo

lahat

o An expectant mother acts as if she is already a mother | Preparation | Angst |

Angst causes us to be towards death | Being towards death is Angst

o Dasein anticipation individualizes us, we die alone, we alone die, alone we die

 We are not Theyself

 We live life in the idea that we will die someday

o Death ends the continuous incompleteness of Dasein

o Death individualizes man

o Authentic Being Towards Death understands Dasein | Understands Indefinite

Certainty of Death