Analysing Dasein According To Heidegger Philosophy Essay

Analysing Dasein According To Heidegger Philosophy Essay Martin Heidegger was a student of Husserl and even dedicated his book Being and Time to him. However, he ended up going against a lot of Husserls ideas. Where Husserls phenomenology is a phenomenology of description of objects and how they present themselves to us, Heideggers is a phenomenology of understanding and interpretation. As he says in Being and Time (1973: 25), Heideggers phenomenology is not pure, again going against his teacher, as Husserl strove for a pure phenomenological attitude he incorporates existential ontology into his phenomenology, which means being historically situated in the world. Husserl wilfully chose to leave history unexamined because of the implications it would have had on his science historical context would have made it impure. Heideggers phenomenology is almost hermeneutical (understanding and interpreting our historically lived situation through texts), so much so he applies this hermeneutical approach to human beings. Heidegger wants to move away from subject (that which remains unchanging) and consciousness and look at Being and his concept of Dasein. This essay will examine Heideggers concept of Dasein as a movement away from Husserls concept of consciousness of objects and subjectivity. It will begin by explaining what Dasein is and is not. Looking at it as ontologically situated in the world as having an understanding of the meaning of Being. It will then move on to looking at Dasein as the entity of all entities and seeking for the meaning of Being. This will lead onto the concept of the they-self and everydayness and how Dasein is situated in these which will inevitably move onto anxiety as a means of getting from the they to the my. This will link into the authentic and inauthentic self authentic being one-self and inauthentic being the they-self. Dasein literally means Being-there (Polt, 1999:29). It is not consciousness and it is not a person. It is not simply existence or a thing in the world. It is a verb to exist. Dasein is no-thing. It is the essential structure of a human being the way of Being of a human being. It is not static in the world, but active towards the world (towards the world coming back to Husserls idea of objects giving themselves towards the world). Dasein exists understandingly having the understanding of the meaning of Being ontologically always historically mediated. Dasein is ontological insofar as it understands the meaning of Being it only has an opaque and vague understanding of Being but it has some. (Heidegger, 1973: 31). Dasein is the condition of possibility of the world so it can be considered transcendental. However, at its simplest Dasein is just Being in the world. Heidegger refers to Beings as entities entities are anything that has existence (Polt, 1999: 2). He mentions that ). Entities are ontical they are out there in the world. Dasein is the entity that is distinct from all other entities in that it is out there and it exists towards the world. It is the entity of all entities. As Heidegger says in Being and Time (1973: 32), Entities present themselves towards the world simply as they are in their being. Heidegger is interested in the meaning of Being. Things are but Being is nowhere you cannot point to Being or Dasein like you can point to an object. Dasein is no-thing. We need to witness the no-thing of our Being we need to look for the meaning of our Being or at least have an understanding of it. Human existence Dasein is being interrogated. The Being of our being is been asked about. To get to the meaning of Being, we must first go through the human being and the Dasein. To do this, Heidegger talks about seeking (ibid: 24). When we look for something we must have an idea of what we are looking for we cannot look for something we have no experience of. Dasein is primordially temporal in three ways 1. Existence: Daseins potentiality for Being projects Being on various possibilities. 2. Thrownness: Represents Daseins structure phenomenon of the past that represents past as having been historically. It could be argued that we are forced to be who we are because of our past we 3. Falleness: Being alongside Daseins place among other Daseins made possible by those present and being in the world. It is the result of being thrown into the world from the past (ibid: 76). As Polt (1999:76) says, . The human needs to be taken away from this simple subjectivity and looked at in the broader sense I am as they. This is where the concept of Das-Man or the they-self comes into play. Dasein has an aspect to itself as a they-self. The opinions that are out there. What other people tell us about ourselves determines us. In the they-self, the Dasein is comfortable; it seeks refuge in the they-self. There is a tranquilising familiarity of the they -self. In the they-self we feel at home but philosophy is not about feeling at home. We are on the run from our meaning of Being we are on the run from ourselves. The they-self defines who we are so we can never really get out of it fully. The they-self is everydayness. Dasein has to retrieve itself from the Das-Man in order to truly be itself. To do this, Heidegger says we must undergo anxiety. Heidegger asks how do we get form the they to the my? Husserl suspends the empirical or natural attitude for the phenomenological. It is a wilful suspension. For Heidegger, suspension is affective and comes in the form of anxiety. He also wants to suspend the natural attitude for the phenomenological, but for him, he calls the natural attitude, the everyday. I am affected by anxiety. When I am anxious Im brought back to my proper Dasein. Anxiety is how we get from the they to the my. Heidegger says that we should let anxiety overcome us in order to get back to my-self or one-self. However, one-self is a task for Dasein, as Dasein is an entity concerned by its own being and is comforted by the they-self. We are anxious about our being in the world our Being is determined by the fact that sometime we will not be in the world. My Being towards death is an indeterminable determinacy there is something indeterminate about death, but it determines me. In this anxiousness we emancipate ou rselves from the they-self. Letting anxiety overwhelm us, is the only way to get to our authentic self. Heidegger says that we are merely actors in our daily lives and that we have to get back to who we really are. This is where authenticity and inauthenticity comes into practice. Dasein encompasses both the authentic and inauthentic. There is a Dasein of the they and a Dasein of the my. Authenticity is who I am it can be argued that we are trying to get back to our authentic selves. For the most part we are inauthentic and improper we live through the they-self in everydayness. In the they-self the authentic self is dormant. However, we can never fully leave one or get into the other. Heidegger (in Keane, N., 1927: 65) says, Silence, according to Heidegger is how we get back to our-self our authentic self. Not saying anything at all, says more than idle-talk. As he says in Being and Time (1973: 213), Being as Dasein is Being toward the world. Being toward the world means concern. ). Heidegger says in Being and Time (1973: 237), that at its most basic level, Being-in-the-world is care. As such, Dasein is fundamentally care. Dasein is always out ahead of itself it is born into a world that already has meaning. Caring implies things that matter to us so we do care about our Being (Polt, 1999: 79). Dasein is human existence. It is the way of Being for human beings. At its most basic it is Being-in-the-world humans existence in the world. It is the entity of all entities so it can be argued that it is the way of Being over all other ways of Being of human beings. Dasein lives through the world in the everyday sense of the they-self. We are what other people perceive us to be. We can only truly be our authentic self by undergoing anxiety and letting it overwhelm us. Dasein can be understood as the essence of human existence having lived through its historically lived situation. It is a part of a fundamental ontology. Dasein is active towards the world as having a history by living through the world. It has to try find (seeking) its authentic self or owness through anxiety. Dasein is basically Being-there Being-in-the-world.

Tatyana Tolstaya’s White Walls: Summary

White walls. In having white walls, there is always room tort improvement. You are never stuck with one look because you can always simply change it. Tolstoy is very optimistic in that she feels that with the end of Communism and the Soviet Houses 3 Union, there is great room for improvement. I believe that she is correct in this assessment because Russia today is not as big of super power as the United States, but it is certainly on its way to be there soon. Another big symbol in this piece, I believe, is Johnson + Johnson.Tolstoy never clarifies entirely what Johnson + Johnson is, but it seems to be a big company. This could be a new company that was formed after the collapse of the Soviet Union. We learned about how when the USSR dissolved the government and the economy took a huge hit. I believe this is an example of a company that is on the rise. This can definitely be viewed as a symbol due to the fact that it is not only a business, but the name Johnson + Johnson makes it seem as if it is a family run operation.The sentence after Tolstoy mentions Johnson + Johnson, she says, â€Å"From broad, there were quick-acting cleaners and spot removers-aerosols to erase memory, acids to eliminate the past. † This is another example of how she wants the past to be erased. Although Johnson + Johnson is only mentioned a few times in this short story I believe it is a crucial symbol. The business industry is on the rise in Russia. The final symbol I chose was Mikhail Avouching Jason. M. A . Jason was the builder of the dacha that Tolstoy and her family lived in when they were kids.He is constantly mentioned throughout this piece. Tolstoy alas about how she always found some of his old stuff in the attic and how she was always very intrigued by what she would find. The way they describe Jason, makes it seem that he was a very nice and kind man. The main message that I get from reading this is that Russia is a rebuilding country. All the examples in the story of tearing down old things to replace them with new Houses 4 items shows this message. If it weren't for Jason then Tolstoy would never have lived in this house and she wouldn't have found all of the old items left behind by IM.She talks about how Jason essentially dispersed without any remembrance of him. Tolstoy says that, â€Å"Jason dispersed, disintegrated, vanished into the earth. † This shows how over time things become lost. She then talks about how his plaque saying his name had been stolen by an admirer of nonferrous metals. Many people have come and gone but the country has remained alive. As new generations evolve the country has to adapt to their specific needs. Again this is why I believe Tolstoy is trying to tell us that Russia is a rebuilding country.All three symbols mentioned played crucial parts of this story. Different people could interpret them in many different ways, but this is how I see them. They all show different parts of Totality's childhood and how she grew up. All of these symbols also have historical references in them. Again it depends on how you view and interpret them. Someone could think it meaner one thing when another person could thinks it meaner the complete opposite. She never makes a comment specifically about Communism in this piece.She mentions Lenin and Stalin a few times but does not give you her impression of them. An author for The New York Review of Books says about â€Å"White Walls†, that â€Å"Totality's favorite theme is an inexhaustible one: the passage of time, often accompanied by a potent regret for opportunities lost. † This is extremely relevant because the whole story is about the passage of time and how things change. All in all the main message is that Russia is a rebuilding country that is on its way to becoming more of a super power than it is today.

Manipulation in Blade Runner and Maus Essay

This paper discusses the issue of manipulation in Ridley Scott’s, Blade Runner, and Art Spiegelman’s, Maus – volume I and II. When used as a form of authoritative control, manipulation lends itself to the dehumanization of the characters within these texts; consequently enslaving them to an inescapable and fascist framework of control. Manipulation is an artful management used for the purposes of deception and control. The shrewd and devious exertion of manipulation, as a tool of tyranny, gives those who propagate it the ability to engineer the movements of the masses. Within the texts, Blade Runner, and Maus- volume I and II, the characters are manipulated to glorify the â€Å"genetically pure†. When Deckert administers the â€Å"Void-Comp† test to Rachel he is presenting her with a scenario to test her purity. Deckert proposes to Rachel â€Å"It’s your birthday†¦someone gives you a calf-skin wallet† to which Rachel replies, â€Å"I wouldn’t accept it†¦also, I’d report the person who gave it to me to the police† (Blade Runner 22:38). Even as a replicant, Rachel has been influenced to idealize the â€Å"genetically pure†, like all of the other characters have in Blade Runner. The police force also manipulates Deckert to believe that he must retire the replicants. When Deckert says, â€Å"I’ve got no choice, huh?† Tucker responds, â€Å"No choice at all, pal† (Blade Runner 13:31). Perhaps when force and punishment support and sustain manipulation this type of persuasion is inevitable. In Art Spiegelman’s, Maus – volume I and II, manipulation is more overtly used as a method of authoritative control by the Nazi regime. On page 54 in Maus II, a German solider begins talking to Vladek as they are marching. Vladek even describes him as having â€Å"a little heart†. Before long the guard yells for Vladek to â€Å"shut up† and Vladek becomes â€Å"afraid anymore to speak†. The guard has his own ideals, but has been so influenced by Nazi rule that he is afraid to defy the beliefs that have been pressed upon him. Simply by initiating the conversation, the soldier inadvertently demonstrates that he doesn’t fully accept what Hitler has influenced him to think of the Jews. His actions are derived from an appeal to ignorance. Within the texts, this type of manipulation ultimately lends itself to the dehumanization of those who are believed to be â€Å"genetically impure†. In Blade Runner, the replicants are reduced to animals and as long as Deckert continues to see them as an inferior or subhuman force, his effort to eradicate them is not done in vain. In seeing the replicants as animals Deckert can kill them without actually murdering them. After all, â€Å"this is not execution; it’s retirement† (Blade Runner 3:10). In this sense, Deckert and the replicants are engaged in a perpetual struggle of being predator or being prey. Batty exemplifies this struggle when he howls like a wolf while in pursuit of Deckert (Blade Runner 1:38:04). When Priss says, â€Å"but we’re stupid and we’ll die† in response to Batty’s plans of paradigmatic change, it becomes obvious that the way the replicants are treated has changed the way in which they view themselves. The repl icants have been reduced to animals. Similarly, in Maus, the Nazis see the Jews not as humans but as animals. Spiegelman draws the Jews as mice in his graphic novel to conceptualize this fact. Vladek describes how the Jews were transported in cattle cars. â€Å"It was such a train for horses, for cows. They pushed until there was no room left. We lay one on top of the other, like matches, like herrings† (Spiegelman 2:54). This treatment was a form of manipulation attempting to change the way in which the Jews viewed themselves. The Nazis didn’t treat the Jews as human and so they were influenced by this treatment to believe that they were non-human. Vladek describes how the German soldiers saw the Jews. â€Å"We were below their dignity. We were not even men† (Spiegelman 2:54). The dehumanization of the Jews helped the Nazis to justify their actions. The need for the soldiers to separate themselves from the brutality shows their true beliefs. If they truly objectified the Jews, they would not have had to detach themselves from them in order to carry out Hitler’s visions. It was Hitler’s visions that influenced the soldiers to carry out their actions. Hitler’s visions had been manipulated into becoming their own. Eventually this type of manipulation has the ability to disseminate through society, successfully propagating misinformation as truth. It is evident, in both of the texts, that the characters become enslaved to an oppressive system built by manipulation. The characters are unable to free themselves from oppression because they have been surrounded by a fascist framework of authoritative control. In Blade Runner, when Rachel declares â€Å"I’m not in the business I am the business† she has come to the realization that she is a slave to the system. Rachel goes from living with Tyrell to knowing she’s a replicant, and having no other choice but to take on her designated role (Blade Runner 1:04:09). When Rachel asks Deckert â€Å"Would you come after me?† and Deckert responds â€Å"No†¦ but somebody would† the characters realize the authoritative nature of a world, fostered by manipulation and controlled by surveillance (Blade Runner 1:06:02). In the final scene of Blade Runner, Batty affirms this notion: â€Å"It’s quite an experience to live in fear†¦that’s what it is to be a slave† (Blade Runner 1:45:12). In Maus, the dehumanization of his father has enslaved Artie to Vladek’s past. When Artie thinks of his parent’s history he is doomed to envision a pile of dead Jews under his desk (Spiegelman 2:41). Artie is unable to escape the terror of Auschwitz. This becomes clear on page 47 of Maus II, when Artie puts on the mask of a mouse. Artie signifies himself as the â€Å"child of a survivor† and, despite the fact that he has never been there, Auschwitz will manipulate the way in which Artie lives forever. Artie has absorbed his father’s past to such an extent that he has begun to lose some of himself and adopt some of his father. Artie bleeds history, as the title of Spiegelman’s book suggests. Ridley Scott’s, Blade Runner, and Art Spiegelman’s, Maus – volume I and II, cooperate to reveal the effects of manipulation when it is used to formulate authoritative control. The propagation of misinformation dehumanizes the characters within these texts, making them slaves to a system that is created by manipulation and sustained by surveillance. Works Cited Blade Runner (Director’s Cut). Dir. Ridley Scott. Perf. Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young and Daryl Hannah. Warner Studios, 1982. Spiegelman, Art. Maus – A Survivor’s Tale. 2 vols. New York: Pantheon Books, 1986.

Mount Vesuvius According to Pliny

Mt. Vesuvius is an Italian volcano that erupted on August 24, 79 CE*, blanketing the towns and 1000s of residents of Pompeii, Stabiae, and Herculaneum. Pompeii was buried 10 deep, while Herculaneum was buried under 75 of ash. This volcanic eruption is the first to be described in detail. The letter-writing Pliny the Younger was stationed about 18 mi. away, in Misenum, from which vantage point he could see the eruption and feel the preceding earthquakes. His uncle, the naturalist Pliny the Elder, was in charge of area warships, but he turned his fleet to rescuing residents and died. Historical Importance In addition to Pliny recording the sights and sounds of the first volcano to be described in detail, the volcanic covering of Pompeii and Herculaneum provided an amazing opportunity for future historians: The ash preserved and protected a vibrant city against the elements until future archaeologists unearthed this snapshot in time. Eruptions Mt. Vesuvius had erupted before and continued to erupt about once a century until about 1037 CE, at which point the volcano grew quiet for about 600 years. During this time, the area grew, and when the volcano erupted in 1631, it killed approximately 4000 people. During the rebuilding efforts, the ancient ruins of Pompeii were discovered on March 23, 1748. Todays population around Mt. Vesuvius is about 3 million, which is potentially catastrophic in the area of such a dangerous Plinian volcano. A Pine Tree in the Sky Prior to the eruption, there were earthquakes, including a substantial one in 62 CE** that Pompeii was still recovering from in 79. There was another earthquake in 64, while Nero was performing in Naples. Earthquakes were seen as facts of life. However, in 79 springs and wells dried up, and in August, the earth cracked, the sea became turbulent, and the animals showed signs that something was coming. When the eruption of the 24th of August began, it looked like a pine tree in the sky, according to Pliny, spewing noxious fumes, ash, smoke, mud, stones, and flames. Plinian Eruption Named after the naturalist Pliny, the type of eruption of Mt. Vesuvius is referred to as Plinian. In such an eruption a column of various materials (called tephra) is ejected into the atmosphere, creating what looks like a mushroom cloud (or, perhaps, pine tree). Mt. Vesuvius column is projected to have reached about 66,000 in height. Ash and pumice spread by the winds rained for about 18 hours. Buildings started to collapse and people began to escape. Then came high-temperature, high-velocity gasses and dust, and more seismic activity. *In Pompeii Myth-Buster, Professor Andrew Wallace-Hadril argues that the event occurred in the fall. Translating Plinys Letter adjusts the date to September 2, to coincide with later calendar changes. This article also explains the dating to 79 CE, the first year of Titus reign, a year not referred to in the relevant letter. ** In Pompeii Myth-Buster, Professor Andrew Wallace-Hadril argues that the event occurred in 63. Sources Martini, Kirk. Volcanic Phenomena at Pompeii. University of Virginia, July 10, 1997.Pompeii. Minnesota State University Emuseum.Vesuvius, Italy. University of North Dakota.The 79 AD Eruption of Vesuvius.