What is Dasein? (Intro to Heidegger)

A brief overview of some themes from Heidegger's Being and Time and Contributions to Philosophy (of the Event).

[Clarkd]

I can’t help but hear all of this through the lens of Orthodox theology, and the parallels are striking.

[anthonybrady]

Best elucidation of Being in Time I ever heard, , or to be more precise, Dasein. . Thank you so much.

[broquestwarsneeder]

very fun talk and easy to comprehend for those of us who are not fluent in heidegger

[thewjw]

Thank you! I started studying Heidegger 37 years ago along with an intersection with computer science. Your explanation was brilliant. The concern that bought me to your lecture was my perception that the schools of thought of critical thinking have lost their way. Self-certainty and an eagerness to dismiss truth as a manifestation of class power struggles is a rich ground for self deception. I look forward to watching more of your videos and reading your book. This thinking is at the core of the turmoil and way forward for the world.

[garrywindshield]

Thank you introducing me to Heidegger. I must say that you might be the best philosophy lecturer I heard in my life. The amount of examples, synonyms, repetitions is exactly what I needed. It was hard not to understand what you tried to convey. Thank for your effort and love of philosophy. When I have enough money, I will gladly contribute them through your website

[sahaja]

Thank you Michael, I have read Heidegger's Being and Time, and his short pieces on Technology and Art and etc, and though I have gotten a lot from them, your emphasis on the existential necessity of our being transformed in relation to being as the key to understanding philosophy at all is really eye opening. This notion that self transcendence as part and parcel of what it means to be human is also a crucial element in the yoga and shamanic traditions, and in Christian ideas like repentance and redemption. Dr. John Vervaeke of U. Toronto's cognitive psych department has also worked hard to foreground this aspect of being human as something that we have forgotten (for many reasons) with the result being a certain existential alienation, loss of meaning and the sense of agency for modern man. So I really appreciate this emphasis. Telling friends about the channel - - Dugin is a real trip. Thanks for that too.

[randymurphy]

Excellent lecture. In response, I hereby proclaim that I am the Antidasein and that accepting it reveals that there must be metafundamental philosophical precepts that although beyond human comprehension, must nevertheless exist, which by extension infers a dimension heretofore not considered, and that it is only in the state of uncertainty as to whether or not to take this seriously that the door is open.

[shari]

This was so good! Thank you so much. You are so articulate and I didn’t think it was too long at all.

[millerman]

I didn't make clear enough this point: being-in-the-world means that "the-world" belongs to the being that you are as Dasein. It is not just a way of saying that you are something/somebody inside the world. "World" is an existential structure of Dasein. When Dasein understands itself not as "being-in-the-world" with all of its nuances and specificities, which Heidegger outlines, but is "entangled" in "world" and interprets itself in terms of beings in the world, then it lacks genuine self-understanding and is not exposed to the truth of beyng. When you hear "being-in-the-world" (which, according to Heidegger, is what you are), you should remember that all those words mean something unlike what you're used to when hearing them, and that they only become clear with a little work to get to the existential or fundamental ontological dimension of Heidegger's thinking. That is the task of Being and Time and you must, as I said at the beginning, and as Heidegger himself taught, make this your question and your task if you want to grasp what he's on about. Otherwise, even if you understand it conceptually, more or less, you won't be getting the most out of what Heidegger has to offer. Understanding is a being-disclosing mode of Dasein: it is not a concept in the head of an individual. I can say the words, but you must be the one to make them yours, or to see yourself in light of them. Moreover, I naturally could not go over all the details thoroughly as to how everything hangs together. But this was just a foretaste of Heidegger and if you want more you have options, including taking any future seminars I might do on Being and Time and Contributions to Philosophy of the Event. Watch what you can, read what you can, and most of all spend some time with Heidegger's own writings.

Thank you for attending, thank you for watching, and get in touch if you have any questions.

Cheers!

[andreasmannal]

Excellent! Have been working with Heidegger for decades in context of my research into the Soul. You did an excellent job here, especially considering that you did it in English, which is definitely a fall from the grace of how Heidegger employed the German language to convey Seyn...

[kh.]

I seriously need a philosophy for dummies crash course with extremely simplified language and concepts explained in layman's terms. I would really appreciate it.

[murphy]

Wasn't too long, I like it to be long at times. Very interesting subject. Thanks for posting this.

[ShareefusMaximus]

These are some of the deepest thoughts I've ever been exposed to. "Mystical dimensions of Heideggerian thought" seems like a book waiting to be written.

[Sharkyg]

I've really enjoyed your videos and lectures. Thank you Michael! You are a brilliant teacher. From London, England.

[ClassicalTory]

Thanks, Michael. Can't wait to listen to it later.

[pn]

40:04. TRANSCRIPTION:
"Not Beings and Being, but rather Dasein (as Being-in-the-world) and its exposure to 'Beyng' with a 'Y' — that is, deeper source of self-revealing openness. So I've got to say something about all this, but it's very important. Beyng with a Y indicates for him this deeper, more genuine & more original dimension of Being’s self-disclosure. Being discloses itself through Dasein. Dasein stands open to the to the ground of Being. Beyngs meanwhile are over here on this other level. They also get reinterpreted when we see ourselves as Dasein and when we see Dasein on the basis of this ground.

So a million more points to make here:

40:56 Heidegger says that in Modernity, the human being has become interpreted as self-certain self-consciousness, and the peak, really, of philosophical elaboration of self-certain self-consciousness is Hegel, who in the Phenomenology of Spirit unfolds the encyclopedic comprehensive speech, conceptual speech, that gives you the externalization of subjectivity and its full articulation and return to self-knowledge.

41:31 So in Hegel you have the total self-conscious self-certainty expressed conceptually. The peak and perfection in some sense of philosophical Modernity. But Heidegger says *that is a type of existential or fundamental ontological suicide, * because when you are self-certain — let’s say, This is your self 41:56 [gestures], this is your self-certainty — it's the point beyond which you don't need question, because you “already know.” It's the “certainty” that lays the basis for everything that comes next.

42:07 He says This is how in part you think about culture and about genius and about many other things. They are based on the idea that the human being is a self-conscious self-certainty that “builds, ” so to speak, from its “own foundation.” *That is not Dasein* because, let’s take self-certainty…42:22 [gestures]

[anhumblemessengerofthelawo]

People think the universe ain't be like it is, _but it do_

Heidegger

[mwdiers]

This lecture is to Heidegger what C. S. Lewis' "The Discarded Image" is to medieval literature. A necessary orientation and entry point which makes the work vastly more accessible.

[notloki]

dasein reminds me very much of the new age idea of "merkabah" or "chariot of ascension" adapted from BC religions in the deserts of the near east. also kind of reminds me of the distinction between "self" and "Self" in eastern religions, and the concept of theosis in orthodoxy.

[DouglasHPlumb]

I wonder if we are any more capable of knowing our own nature than a programmable toaster is. It just may not be possible. I've just picked up "Being and Time" and started reading it - deep and interesting.