What is the official translation of the word "Dasein" (Martin Heidegger, What is metaphysics?)?

Answer 1

It is a concept. Meaning being here/there. Basically the concept of metophysics.

Answer 2

Hey Manu,

Dasein is a concept forged by Martin Heidegger in his magnum opus Being and Time . It is derived from da-sein, which literally means being-there/here, though Heidegger was adamant that this was an inappropriate translation of Dasein. In German, Dasein is synonymous with existence, as in I am pleased with my existence (ich bin mit meinem Dasein zufrieden). For Heidegger, however, it must not be mistaken for a subject, that is something objectively present. Heidegger was adamant about this distinction, which carried on Nietzsche's critique of the subject. Dasein, as a being that is constituted by its temporality, illuminates and interprets the meaning of being in time. For more information, see other related Heideggerian concepts, such as being-in-the-world.

Answer 3

'da' = 'there'

'sein' = 'to be/being'

'dasein' = 'being there'

So it's just like that Peter Sellers movie, which is in fact (like the novel it's based on) partly interpretable as an extended joke about Heidegger's later quietism.

It absolutely does not mean 'after nature'. The German for 'after' is 'nach', the German for 'nature' is 'Natur'.

Answer 4

There-being.

Answer 5

Dasein is a concept forged by Martin Heidegger in his magnum opus Being and Time . It is derived from da-sein, which literally means being-there/here, though Heidegger was adamant that this was an inappropriate translation of Dasein. In German, Dasein is synonymous with existence, as in I am pleased with my existence (ich bin mit meinem Dasein zufrieden). For Heidegger, however, it must not be mistaken for a subject, that is something objectively present. Heidegger was adamant about this distinction, which carried on Nietzsche's critique of the subject. Dasein, as a being that is constituted by its temporality, illuminates and interprets the meaning of being in time. For more information, see other related Heideggerian concepts, such as being-in-the-world.

Heidegger used the concept of Dasein to uncover the primal nature of "being" (Sein) which Descartes and Kant left unexplored. Like Nietzsche, Heidegger criticized the notion of substance, arguing that Dasein is always a being engaged in the world. The fundamental mode of being is not that of a subject or of the objective but of the coherence of being-in-the-world.

On Heidegger's account, traditional language, logical systems, and beliefs obscure Dasein's nature from itself. Beings are Dasein even when they are ontologically wrapped up in a tradition which obscures the authentic choice to live within and transmit this tradition. In this case Dasein still authentically chooses the tradition when it is confronted by a paradox within the tradition and must choose to dismiss the tradition or dismiss the experience of being confronted with choice.

Heidegger attempted to maintain the definition of Dasein as we all are, in our average everydayness. Dasein does not spring into existence upon philosophical exploration of itself. Heidegger intended Dasein as a concept, in order to provide a stepping stone in the questioning of what it means to be. When Dasein contemplates this, what seems (absurdly) circular in ontic terms, is recursive in ontological sense, because it brings the necessary appearance of time to the center of attention.

In Being and Time, Heidegger opens by positing that the potentialities of Dasein's being extend beyond the realms disclosed by positive science or in the history of metaphysics. "Scientific research is not the only manner of Being which this entity can have, nor is it the one which lies closest. Moreover, Dasein itself has a special distinctiveness as compared with other entities [...]" What distinguishes Dasein from other existent entities is that "[...] in its very Being, that Being is an issue for it." Dasein's very nature poses a philosophical (or ontological) problem for it. Thus, we see Heidegger, being Dasein, attempt to tackle this innate dilemma in his philosophical works.


met·a·phys·ics (mĕt'ə-fĭz'ĭks)
n.
(used with a sing. verb) Philosophy. The branch of philosophy that examines the nature of reality, including the relationship between mind and matter, substance and attribute, fact and value.
(used with a pl. verb) The theoretical or first principles of a particular discipline: the metaphysics of law.
(used with a sing. verb) A priori speculation upon questions that are unanswerable to scientific observation, analysis, or experiment.
(used with a sing. verb) Excessively subtle or recondite reasoning.
[From pl. of Middle English methaphisik, from Medieval Latin metaphysica, from Medieval Greek (ta) metaphusika, from Greek (Ta) meta (ta) phusika, (the works) after the Physics, the title of Aristotle's treatise on first principles (so called because it followed his work on physics) : meta, after; see meta– + phusika, physics; see physics.]

Answer 6

yeah.. "being-there"

da is there, sein is being.
It's most charitible to maintain that context.

It's a replacement for "man" and all the assumtions that go with it, including subjectivity and everything else.

Answer 7

Translated it simply means 'after nature'

Answer 8

Existence...