Outline of Analysis of Dasein 3 страница

Outline of Analysis of Dasein 39

cinations—or can be seen by everybody alike—as is the case with "normal" perceptions—does not alter the fact that the conditions for appearing, as such, are the same in both cases. Where there is appearance of anything at all, there has to be a realm into which the appearing-something may make its appearance. The halluci­natory nature of our patient's perceptions, then, far from devaluating the Daseinsanalytic characterization of man's existence, gives—on the contrary—further evidence that the Daseinsanalytic description of the basic essence of man's being-in-the-world holds true for all possible ways of existing, be they normal or psychotic.

It is the luminating nature of human being to which the very term Dasein alludes, the term Heidegger uses for human being exclusively. "Dasein" means "being" (sein) "there" (da). Analysis of Dasein takes this meaning literally: man's Dasein is the being of the "there." The "there" designates the realm of lumination which human existence is, the realm into which all particular beings may come forth, where they may show themselves, may appear and thus be. "Dasein brings its realm of lumination, its 'there,' with it from the very beginning; neither does it actually exist without its 'there/ nor is it this particular being [man] without its 'there.' "⁵ Only to a particular being whose nature it is to be luminous can light make accessible—and darkness conceal—what is before it. Because man is the "there of Being-ness"—in the mode of "lighting of Being-ness" [Lichtung des Seins] —Heidegger chose the term "Da-sein" which clearly expresses the manner of being-ness of this particular being.⁶ Synonymous with "there"—the "Da" of "Dasein" —Heidegger also uses the terms Welt (world), Weltentwurf, in the sense of Welt-Erwurf (the "throwing open of the lightened realm of the world"), and Welt-Entschlossenheit, in the sense of Welt-Erschlossenheit (world disclosure). Entwurf and Entschlossenheit, in the sense Heidegger uses these terms, should never be, as they so often are, misunderstood to mean a "projection" by, or the "resoluteness" of, a subject.

Being-in-the-world as the primary awareness—or the lighting— of Being-ness is not an ontological structure existing in some "super world" and "manifesting" itself only now and then in or as man's existence. Being-in-the-world exists only as all the different, concrete

⁵ M. Heidegger, SuZ, p. 133. *Ibid., p. 12.

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modes of man's behavior in his world and as his relating to the things and fellow men which and whom he encounters. In other words, the very essence, meaning, and content of every single, concrete human relation to a particular being is the disclosure of this particular being. The statement does not refer to anything besides" or "above" these concrete relationships.

The Existentialia

The fundamental characteristics of (human) Dasein, such as being-in-the-world, primary comprehending, and luminating, are, in the language of analysis of Dasein, "existentialia." They are to be sharply distinguished from the characteristics of particular beings other than Dasein, for which Heidegger reserves the term "cate­gories." It is possible—and this has occurred—to misunderstand the existentialia in the sense of an a priori structure of Dasein existing in a supersensual realm of its own. All factual, ontic characteristics of existing human beings would then have to be understood as a posteriori realizations of such structures. Heidegger's concern happens to be to overcome this very type of metaphysics. He em­phasizes continually that one must not picture the essential condition of Dasein (as he has shown it) as something which exists in itself, forms a background, and is of the nature of a design (in the sense of Platonic "Ideas"), a design which has to be deduced, by logical procedures, from observable human phenomena which always fall short of the design itself. On the contrary, the existentialia always characterize the immediate "essence" of factually observable, con­crete behavior of human beings. Existentialia, being nothing other than the very meaning and essence of directly observable human behavior, cannot very well be assumed also to exist in some other way, detached from human existence. Most certainly they do not float in some m etaphy sical realm of their own. \^eing^m^e-worH] primary comprehending, and luminating are by_no_ means the only existentialia. As, for instance, tEe~meaning-disclosing openness of human existence can only occur by calling the particular beings which shine forth into this openness at any

'. giv en m oment that which they are or seem to be, so also human {language^pi. its deepest meaning has to be regarded as a primordial

^existentialium of human Dasein (see pp. 70 and 214-215). At the

Outline of Analysis of Dasein 41

moment, however, the discussion of two others-^Bemg) always ^attuned to this or that mood and \fcfflingjDrej5 t o the ph enomena, as they are comprehended—will contribute even more to our under­standing of Daseinsanalysis.

As a luminous realm, Dasein, as every light, is always attuned in one or another way. Things can come forth into its openness only in consonance with Daseins actual attunement, or "pitch" [Ge-stimmtheii].* Just as the coloring and the brightness of a physical light determine what can be seen by it, so things are always disclosed in accordance with man's pitch. An individual's pitch at a certain moment determines in advance the choice, brightness, and coloring of his relationships to the world. In a mood of hunger, for instance, he perceives totally different things than when he is in an anxious mood, or when he is in love. He also discloses quite different qualities and meaningful connections of the things he perceives in these respective moods. In this sense, all particular beings "need" the luminating nature of man in order to be. Fundamentally, "being" always means "coming forth and lasting." How could any such coming forth and lasting be possible without a lightened realm into which this happening can take place?

However, as things cannot be without man, man cannot exist as ^sj what he is without that which he encounters. This is so true that \ j Dasein usually understands itself at first, and in most cases, through ' its encounter with particular beings. It would, however, be a funda­mental misunderstanding of the analysis of Dasein if one were to infer from this that Dasein perceives as external world that which it originally is itself. It is true, Heidegger replies to this argument, that Dasein understands itself as a rule in relation to what it en­counters in the world. This is due to the essential constitution of Dasein. For Dasein, as awareness of Being-ness and lighting of %iugl^neiiZ needs the particular beings with w^hom it exists and" whom it encounters. Dasein is "thrown" on particular beings as if it were the brightness of a light. Because Dasein cannot do without particular beings, because it is "thrown" on encountered particular beings, Dasein actually always falls prey at first to the particular beings it encounters, losing itself, so to speak, to them. But then

* Translator's note: "Pitch" was chosen in preference to "attunement" (used by W. Brock, Existence and Being, Chicago, 1949) because it seems to preserve the qualitative aspect of Gestimmtheit, which may mean both "mood" and "being timed."

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Dasein very definitely is not what it is originally, not what it is in itself.⁷ A cobbler, for instance, thinks of himself first of all as a maker of shoes. Yet the Dasein itself of this cobbler is originally a luminated realm, too, in which world is disclosed, in this case a "world" consisting of the whole frame of references belonging to his shoes.

If things, plants, animals, and fellow men did not enable man to relate to them, how would he be capable of beingjn the world in the mode of luminating understanding of BeiagdQejs.LNot even so-called physical light can appear as light unless it encounters things which it makes shine forth. This means nothing less than that human being and what appears in the light of human existence *-are mutually dependent on each other to such an extent that, for instance, the questions, "What and where were the things before there were men?" and "What will become of the things when men, no longer exist?" are completely meaningless in the context of —-analysis of Dasein. Human being, as world-disclosure, and the things which shine forth in the realm of its "there," are so immediately integral that Heidegger can say of the relation between Being-ness and man that this relation supports everything, insofar as it brings forth both the appearance of things and man's Dasein*

The Primary Spatiality of Man's World

We have stated before that Heidegger uses the term Dasein in its literal sense: Dasein (literally "there-being") is the being of the "there" (see pp. 39 ff). What is n\eant by this "there"? It may be best to consider first what the "there" of Dasein is not. It must not be understood to refer to a specific spot in space. Nor does it refer to the place where my body happens to be. The position of my body does not determine my "there" in space. Actually, an "I" without I primary relations to space, an "I" which is not already "there" with I the disclosed things from the beginning, an "I" which first has to enter a body and must transport it somewhere in order to be "there"! eventually—such an "I" does not exist. The position of a body is, on the contrary, the essential consequence of man's existential spatiality.

''Ibid., pp. 58, 175.

⁸ M. Heidegger, Was heisst Denken? Tubingen, 1954, p. 45.

Outline of Analysis of Dasein 43

If we attribute spatiality to Dasein, then such "being in space"
obviously must be understood on the basis of the mode of being of
the particular being which is man.t"SpaHality of Dasein"'f—■Dasein
being essentially not extant*—cannot mean that Dasein occurs at
someplace in the worl d-case. Nor can it mean that Dasein is at
hand [zuhanden]] at a certain place, for both being extant and
being at hand are modes of being of objects. Man by no means exists
primarily in the segment of space his body happens to fill, limited
by its epidermis. To say that Dasein is present at the place in space
where the body is, is to reveal an ontologically inadequate concep­
tion of the particular being which is Dasein. Nor does the difference
between the spatiality of an extended thing and the spatiality of
Dasein lie in the peculiarity that Dasein knows of space. Taking up
space is not only not identical with the ability to imagine space, but
the former presupposes the latter. It is also inadequate to interpret
the spatiality of Dasein as an imperfection, due to the fatal bond
between spirit and body. Dasein is, rather, essentially spatial,fc.^5
cause it is "spiritual." No extended body-thing is spirituaL..and. fori
this reason it cannot be spatial in the way Dasein is spatial.⁹ -J

Dasein s "there," its spatiality, is grounded in the_fac± thaijDasem is e ssentially w orld-disclosure. This means that Dasein, qua existent, has always previously found its world-disclosing sphere of activity. At any given moment, Dasein is extended ekstaticallyj within the sphere composed of all its possibilities of relating to the things it encounters and discloses—for example, throughout the whole Uving room which shows itself in, and is ruminated by, Dasein s light as well as throughout the whole realm of references belonging to the things disclosed in this living room. If.some special thing in the room is of great interest to me at the moment, if it means a great

"Translator's note: "Extant" (vorhanden) is used to refer "to the world of ob­jects present merely as such, that is, as items." (R. May, E. Angel, and H. F. Ellen-berger, eds., Existence, New York, 1958, p. 276, fn. 41.) I prefer this translation, by W. M. Mendel and J. Lyons, to others such as "on hand," "present," "before us," '"present-at-hand," etc. See the following translator's note.

t Translator's note: "At hand" (zuhanden), the companion term to "extant" (vorhanden), is used to refer "to the world of human things, which are present as instrumentalities for existing beings." (R. May, et al., loc. cit.) See the preceding translator's note.

⁹ M. Heidegger, SuZ, p. 368.

t Translator's note: "Ekstatic" and its noun "ekstasis" are terms Heidegger uses in the literal sense of the Greek original: "standing out into..." I retain a spelling which closely follows the Greek spelling in order to avoid misunderstanding. See W. Barrett, op. cit., p. 203.

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deal to me, I will probably approach it bodily also. For my body is a partial sphere of my existence "within" my ever ekstatically spread-out Dasein. In approaching this thing bodily, I have merely fulfilled my existential closeness to it in regard to the bodily sphere of my existence, a closeness which already existed. 1 In this existential spatiality of Dasein, the closeness or remote­ness of the particular beings which are met with corresponds to fKeir existential significance. It is not measured by me ters or mile s. It is~characterized, instead, by the intimacy of our concern for the particular beings which reveal themselves in the light of our Dasein, as well as by their power to appeal to us. Within this original spatiality of Dasein, a person may be "closer" to a loved one who is in another continent than to the indifferent table at which he sits, although the latter is directly in front of him in measurable space. We call the existential spatiality of Dasein the "original" one be­cause measurable space can be derived from it, whereas existential spatiality can never be understood through measurable distances. To give but one example: a certain bridge which I perceive opens up a realm containing many things and places of different existential meaningfulness and closeness to me. But all these places can also be thought of as mere spots between which lies a measurable distance (similarly, the closeness or aloofness between people and things can deteriorate to measurable distances). A measurable distance—in Greek a stadion, in Latin a spatium —is a space with its own character. It may become a mere interstice [Zwischenraum]. If space is represented as mere spatium, the bridge appears as an indifferent something which occupies a certain place. It could be exchanged for anything else, or be replaced by a mark. Once space is thought of as being a mere interstice between two spots, these intervals can be measured as height, breadth, and depth. What has thus been ab­stracted from the original spatiality (disclosed by the immediate perception of the bridge with all its meaningful references) changes into the three dimensions of the extensio. Space as extension can again be abstracted into analytic-algebraic relations. Manifold con­structions, by means of an infinite number of dimensions, now be­come possible. One may call these possibilities a mathematical space. But such a space no longer contains places and things of the kind of our bridge.¹⁰

¹⁰ M. Heidegger, Vortrage und Aufsatze, Pfullingen, 1954, pp. 155-156.

Outline of Analysis of Dasein 45

The Primary Temporality of Man's World

The original spatiality of Dasein is closely related to man's original temporality. Indeed, spatiality can be fully understood only on the basis of temporality. For "being" always means being "present" within the "there," within the lumi nous re alm of Being-ness which is man's existence/Presence is derived from piaeesse. Pr aeesse implies both "emergence" and "sojou rryland both-of-tb gse implyjlasting." vltajn eSlng c ahTast' only, on IlilbaajL^Ifome^ For this reason, Western philosophical thought has ever since its beginnings im­plicitly related the deepest essence of Being-ness, including the essence of human being, to temporality. By the same token, Heideg­ger's title for his main work— Being and Time —underscores the fact that he is asking the fundamental ontological question concern­ing the meaning of "Being-ness as such."

Man as a being is present [ein Anwesender] and he lasts [ein Wdhrender], he is a temporal being. This does not mean that the particular temporality of Dasein can be deduced from what is com­monly called "time," i.e., from the velocity of the moving stars, from other natural occurrences, or from the turning of the hands of a clock. Far from it. Man's original temporality is as little an itern^ existing by itself and outside of man as his original spatiality. Original time is no external framework consisting of an endless sequence of "nows," on which man eventually can hang up and put into proper order his experiences and the events of his life. Man's temporality is not but is emerging [zeitigt sich], as the unfolding and coming forth of his existence. Man's original temporality always refers to his disclosing and taking care of something. Such original temporality is dated at all times by his meaningful interactions with, his relating to, that which he encounters. Every "now" is primarily a "now as the door bangs," a "now as the book is missing," or a "now when this or that has to be done." The same holds true for every "then." Originally a "then" is a "then when I met my friend, some time in the past" or a "then when I shall go to the university again."'Everjf "now" ancT every "then" refers to a man's caring for у 'something, arid~IfTas?s asT5ng~as this caring-for lasts.jThere is, for example, a "now during the interval in the theater" or the "then while we were having breakfast." Man carries out his existence in such caring for what is disclosed to him. He lasts from his past

46 The Daseinsanalytic View of Man

through his present into his future in letting things come forth and shine into the luminating realm of his existence, in caring for them in one way or the other. Existing in such a way, he is consumin g his time. Because man's originlflTtemporality thus consists "only" in such an occurrence, i.e., as the consumption or the carrying out of his existential potentialities, he can know short and long hours, depending on whether his existence is intensely fulfilled at a given phase of its unfolding or is not. Also based on this original, existential temporality are questions such as the one addressed to a friend whom one is reluctant to see depart: "Can't you stay for another cigarette?" The insight into this original temporality of human being (as well as the insight into original spatiality) is of paramount importance for the understanding of otherwise unintelligible "time"- (and space-) phenomena in many dreams, in experiences of schizophrenic patients and drug addicts, and so forth.¹¹

Original temporality always refers to a meaningful caring for something or disclosing of something—i.e., to the concrete happen­ings as which the unfolding (and coming into being) of man's own existence actually takes place. In a first step toward the leveling down [Nivellierung] of this original temporality, man can refer his time to the course of the sun. The sun is equally accessible to every­body. In this case, Dasein gives itself its time, and dates itself, by the "then when the sun rises, has risen, or will rise or set." Any of these "thens" will mean that it is time to do this or that. The span of the day's brightness can now be divided into as many equally small stretches of time as one likes. By referring time to, and dating it from, a publicly known astronomical event, everybody is able to make identical calculations. We need not even refer to the sun's course directly. There is the wandering shadow of the sun, used in sundials. Thence to modern chronometers is only a comparatively short step. Finally, original temporality is transformed into watch time or world time, i.e., to a method of dating, a public measuring of time which is accessible to everybody in the same way. Time be­comes a mere sequence of indifferent "nows," even though these indifferent "nows" are ultimately derived from man's temporality, which refers to specific happenings of his own existence. This is the reason why this temporality is called "original." The more so be­cause the process cannot be reversed: it is impossible to create a

¹¹ See M. Boss, The Analysis of Dreams, New York, 1958, pp. 189 ff.

Outline of Analysis of Dasein 47

meaningful, existential "now" out of the sequence of indifferent "nows" of clock time.¹²

Now it is possible, at last, to gain a perspective of the fundamental condition of human existence, to see the connection between its three essential dimensions. We summarize: Dasein grants itself its original spatiality in its relations to the phenomena which show themselves in the light of its essence. In such opening-up of space, Dasein unfolds its existence, "consumes" its time, i.e., it emerges^ Without man's existence, unfolding its own temporality and spatial­ity, there would not be a lighted realms a "there" into which particular beings can come forth, can appear, and actually come into their own being. There can be no appearance—no "phenomenon" (from phainesthai: to appear)—-without^ Hght^

Man's Fundamental Engagement

Comprehension of the existentialia and of the spatiality and temporality of man's world helps us achieve some of the basic Daseinsanalytic insights into the nature of man's being-in-the-world. Yet these insights constitute only the very beginning of an under­standing of man's existence. Analysis of Dasein regards man's unique way of being-in-the-world solely as the necessary presupposition and precondition for a really human existence. Man seems so constituted not just for his own amusement. Man's existence seems claimed by Being-ness as the necessary clearing into which all that has to be may come forth and within which it may shine forth. For every­thing that can come forth needs a realm, into which it can do so. Man is well equipped to be this realm. His task seemingly is to be _v both "servant and shepherd of Being-ness."¹³ This means that man must responsibly take over all his possibilities for world-disclosing relationships, so that whatever may show itself in the light of these relationships can come forth into its being to the best possible extent. In other words, man is to accept all his life-possibilities, he is to appropriate and assemble them to a free, authentic own self no longer caught in the narrowed-down mentality of an anonymous, inauthentic "everybody." Man's freedom consists in becoming ready

¹² M. Heidegger, SuZ, pp. 17, 329, 408-409, 412-416, 426.

¹³ M. Heidegger, Vber den Humanismus, Frankfurt, 1947, P- ²9-

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J for accepting and letting be all that is, to let it shine forth in the world-openness as which he exists.

How else could it be possible that man is reminded of this task by his conscience, whenever he does not fulfill it? This cal l of c ony science)Cj hese feelings of guil|, will not give him any p eace until he has borne out all his possibilities, in caring for the things and fellow men of his world* AaJong as man liv

\ШёуйаЫу in delft [Schuld]°J in this regard, necessardy In arrears, as far as carrying out his world-disclosing possibilities of living are concerned. He is in arrears in two ways. First, finite man can exist only in one of the world-relations of which he is constituted at any given time, and all other possibilities of caring for something remain unfulfilled at that moment. Second, man's whole future waits for him. Until the moment of his death, new possibilities for world-disclosure approach him from his future— possibilities which must be taken over, whose fulfillment he still owes. All actual, concrete feelings of guilt and pangs of conscience are grounded in this existential "being-in-debt" [Schuldigsein] to­ward his whole existence, lasting all through life, no matter how grotesquely they sometimes appear, and how far from their source

/they may have been driven in various neurotic conditions.¹*

* Translator's note: Schvld means both "debt" and "guilt." This dual meaning should be kept in mind.

¹⁴ Cf. M. Boss, "Anxiety, Guilt, and Psychotherapeutic Liberation," in Review of Existential Psychology and Psychiatry, Vol. II, No. 3, 1963. See also pp. 461 ff. of this book.

The Most Common Misunderstandings about Analysis ox Dasein

A summary of a philosopher's fife work amounts at best to an in­complete sketch of his understanding of man and mankind. If we have successfully traced the way of thinking of analysis of Dasein (albeit modestly), much must be owed to Martin Heidegger's un­tiring personal help in compiling the foregoing summary.

Simple as the Daseinsanalytic discoveries are, the dangers of misunderstanding them are manifold. For many centuries, the Western mind has been trained to objectify and reify everything— including human existence—so that it is not well prepared for the Daseinsanalytic insight into the unobjectifiable nature of man. To change to the Daseinsanalytic way of thinking and looking at things means nothing less than to break a habit that is two thousand years old. There are five main possible misconceptions originating in this old habit, all of them closely linked with one anther: (1) the allegorical, (2) the idealistic, (3) the Platonic, (4) the subjec-tivistic, and (5) the egotistical.

The Allegorical Misconception

We have already pointed out (and we will have to come back to it again) how those who want to spare themselves the mental effort of thinking to the very basis of human existence inevitably end up with the erroneous conclusion that the characterization of human existence as "realm of world-openness" is either unreal poetry or an abstraction, without any relation to the concrete, specific patterns of human behavior with which the sciences of psychology and psy-chopathology are concerned (cf. pp. 37-40), A similar misunder­standing of man's definition as being the hghted opening occurs if

SO The Daseinsanalytic View of Man

it is understood as a mere simile or an allegorical comparison, such as a clearing in a wood. Again we have to emphasize that the ex­pression "world-openness" aims best to describe man's fundamental nature itself, directly and immediately and without using any metaphor. Therefore, analysis of Dasein does not cling at all to any particular term. It is ready to use any other expression that would describe the basic, luminating feature of human existence, provided it is more adequate than the terms we have used.

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