THE IMPORTANCE OF DEATH

IN UNDERSTANDING THE MEANING OF BEING (HEIDEGGER)

CHAPTER I
THE PROBLEM AND ITS BACKGROUND
A. Introduction
What is the meaning of being? is the question which
disturbed Martin Heideggers thought. All throughout his
way he believed that we are not spared the exertion of
rekindling a gigantomachia peri ts ousias[a battle of
giants concerning Being Plato, Sophist 245e6-246e1].1
For manifestly you have long been aware of
what you mean when you use the expression being.
We, however, who used to think we understood it,
have now become perplexed.2
Heidegger used this passage above from Plato as his
point of departure in Being and Time, as he sets to reawaken
and to rebuild ontology.
The development of Ontology, the Science of
being or as Aristotle called Metaphysics was
favored
through
peculiarities
of
the
Greek
language. In prephilosophical Greek, beings was
refered as to what there is, in the sense of
things
and[]states
of
affairs.[]The
distinction between beings ta onta,[] and
being ousia(the nature of beings) makes such a
philosophical discipline more natural than the
contrived renderings in English. Once a certain
level of abstraction and conceptual reflection was
reached, it became natural to ask whether there is
a unified meaning of being or whether being has
many meanings.3

1 Martin Heidegger, Being and Time, Trans. Joan Stambaugh

(Albany: State University of New York Press, 1996) 1
2 Ibid, xix
3 Charles B. Guignon, Ed., The Cambridge Companion to Heidegger,
(New York: Camdridge University Press, 1993)43-44

Being is the emptiest, self-evident, most universal and

undefinable concept. It can be applied to different genera,
which it does not solely refer to a single kind of being,
but to all beings in general. However, the capitalized
Being refers to another being, some sort of a Divine or
Supreme Being. Plato, the first one to focus well in this
question thought that there is a unity of being but it was
Aristotles categories or his substance ontology that
greatly challenged Heidegger, and which resulted to the
forgetfulness of the question of being.
In Book VII of Aristotles metaphysics, he said: there
are several senses in which a thing may be called to be. 4It
either means substance or the attributes of a substance.
Substances which are independently existing entities, serve
as substrate for the existence of the attributes of
substances. No unified meaning can be predicated in all
categories, because substance, quality, quantity, relation,
place, time, action affection, possession, position are
intricate. Even though the Aristotelian Ontology was
imperfect, it was still adopted by several Aristotelians and
Christianized, primarily in the works of St. Thomas Aquinas,
i.e. his Summa Theologiae.
The early Heidegger, tried to break away with this
tradition and it took him some time to do so. Two treatises,
viz. The Doctrine of Judgment in Psychologism(1913) and The
Theory of Categories and Meaning of Duns Scotus(1915) served
as major steps to his monumental Being and Time(1926). He
owed the book to Edmund Husserl, who became his teacher,
whose phenomenology was a great help to Heidegger. However,
the phenomenology that Heidegger refered to in his work is
very different from Husserls . It was a very hard work for
Heidegger to overcome the Aristotelian and Thomistic
Tradition that he had to deconstruct ontology. One thing
that he needed to do is to make a new philosophical
language. He introduced new terminologies and used common
language in an unusual way.
Heidegger
introduces
the
term
Da-sein,
which
literally means being-there, and commonly translated as
existence referring to man. Accordingly Dasein guides the
questioning from what it seeks. It is [] among the beings
we call existent (seiend), [] the exemplary being and []
4 Aristotle, Book VII, Metaphysics, Jonathan Barnes, Ed. The
Complete Works of Aristotle, (New Jersey: Princeton University
Press, 1984)

it has priority5 He believes that such questioning is only

possible in the realm of human existence, because, in human
existence, everything find its meaning. Moreover, because of
the disclosedness of Dasein, he has the ability to
understand his being, perceive other beings and so also to
grasp the being of beings, to conceptualize beings.
To find the meaning of being, it is a requisite to
interpret Dasein as a whole, because the being of Dasein
finds it meaning in existence. Dasein, as a whole, comes
into expression in authenticity. Daseins authenticity
requires the lucid acceptance of ones own death, for the
totality of Dasein can only be revealed in its being-towarddeath.6
B. Statement of the Problem
Something is always still outstanding in Dasein which
has not yet become real as a potentiality-of-its-being.
Eliminating what is outstanding in its being is equivalent
to annihilating its being. It is then never again to be
experienced as being.7 Heideggers task which is also our
primary task: To understand being(Dasein), can never be
achieved then.
Our problem now arises.
Is Death essential in understanding Dasein?
This question will eventually be further elucidated as we
also set out to clarify the following:
a. Who and what is Dasein?
b. What is Death?
c. How are Dasein and death related?
C. Significance of the Study
Death is certain. It happens every day, hour, minute,
seconds. Deaths of significant persons like, a president,
Pope, actor and others becomes viral to the society.
Society grieve for the death of their love ones, and so
5 Heidegger, Being and Time, 4, 5
6 Charles B. Guignon, Ed., The Cambridge Companion to Heidegger,
(New York: Camdridge University Press, 1993)196
7 Heidegger, Being and Time, 219-220

they are the ones who are very much affected, that
oftentimes it is hard for them to overcome their grief. To
the extent that some blame God or others responsible for
ones death.
There are those who wants to die anytime of the day,
because of their tiredness to live. There also exists
certain types of people who are afraid to die. Most, belong
to the latter. It is very evident that people are afraid to
die. Certain ways of preserving life are brought to
innovation by doctors, medical technologists, chemists,
etc.
But, some already accepted that they will soon die that
they prepare for death. They collect all their papers, land
titles, hereditary shares, last will and testament and give
them to their love ones. Some, go for confession and
receive that last Sacrament for they want to die peacefully
in Gods hands. These type of people also accept not just
the certainty of death, but also the indefiniteness of
death, it comes at any time.
Moreover, there is something still unveiled in death.
Death is mine, because Dasein is mine, I am Dasein. It
should also be realized that those left behind are the only
ones affected by my death. To me, there is a sense of
fulfillment that what stand as my ultimate possibility
comes into actuality the moment I die. My death can be
experienced by others through grief, or some may even
rejoice for my death, however, my death cannot be shared
because it is my death. No one can take my place in the
time of my death.
So, the moment that I accepted death as a possibility
of mine, it comes ahead of me, waiting for me. It tells me
that I should choose my ways to be, whether, authentically
or inauthentically. As Socrates may have said: An
unexamined life is not worth living.
D. Definition of Terms
Readers and interpreters may find It peculiar and hard to
understand Heideggers work for he gives new meanings to
words that are commonly used. His works are full of
terminologies, of which some which are used in this paper
are hereby defined so that it may be easier to scan through
the pages.

Being- it is said that being is the most universal and

the emptiest concept.
Meaning- (sinn)is that from
understandable as the thing it is.8

which

something

is

Dasein- traditionally translated as existence. However,

Heidegger pinpoints it as the particular being as the
primary being to be interrogated, and it is the being that
always already in its being related to what is sought in
this question.9
Phenomenology- this expression signifies primarily a
concept of method. It does not characterize the what of
the objects of philosophical research in terms of their
content but the how of such research. However, as
Heidegger, looked closer into the origin of the term,
phainomenon and logos, he later said that phenomenology is
the way to access to, and the demonstrative manner, of
determination of, what is to become the theme of ontology.
Ontology
is
possible
only
as
phenomenology.Thus,
phenomenology is the science of the being of beingsontology.10
Death-an existential and ontological concept. As the
end of Dasein, it is the ownmost nonrelational, certain,
and, as such, indefinite and not to be bypassed possibility
of Dasein. As the end of Dasein, death is in the being of
this being-toward-its-end.11
E. Methodology
This paper, discusses that importance of the concept of
death in understanding Dasein. First, I have to give the
overview of the thesis (chapter I). Then, I will have to
discuss the concept of death (chapter II), the being as
Dasein(chapter
III)
the
relationship
of
Dasein
and
8 Magda King, A guide to Heideggers Being and Time, Ed., John
Llewelyn( Albany: State University of New York Press, 2001) 6
9 Heidegger,Being and Time, 13
10 Heidegger, Being and Time, 24, 31, 33
11 Heidegger, Being and Time, 239

death( chapter IV) and the summary, recommendations

applications of this thesis(chapter V).

and

F. Review of Related Literature

G. Bibliography
Primary Sources
a.
Heidegger, Martin. Being and Time. Trans. Joan Stambaugh.
Albany: State University of New York Press, 1996.
b.
Heidegger, Martin. An Introduction to Metaphysics.
Trans. Ralph Manheim
Secondary Sources
a.

Guignon, Charles B., ed. The Cambridge Companion to

Heidegger. New York: Cambridge Universirty Press, 1993.
b. King, Magda. A guide to Heidegger's Being and Time. Ed.
John Llewelyn. Albany: State University of New York
Press, 2001.
c. Malpas, Jeff. Heidegger's Topology: being, place, world.
Cambridge: Massachusetts Institute of Technology Press,
2006.
d. Tietz, John. An Outline and Study Guide to Martin
Heidegger's Being and Time. Frankfurt am Main:
Humanities Online, 2001.