and Being is that of possibility: “The being which is concerned in its being about its being is related to its being as its truest possibility.”83 For Heidegger, “Dasein is always its possibility.”84
This relationship of possibility is authentically lived as “In-der-Welt-sein” (“being-in-the-world”).85 In the as-such of its own finite transcendence, Dasein retrieves the question of Being by recollecting itself as a disclosure of Being.86 Dasein’s disclosedness is constituted as attunement (Befindlichkeit) and understanding (Verstehen); and attunement and understanding are determined through discourse (Rede).87 Dasein is engaged, in an originary way, in its own self-interpretation as an appearing and self-showing of Being. This originary participation in a hermeneutics of self-understanding is fundamental to an ontological understanding of Dasein.
As being-in-the-world, Dasein authentically exists as an event of ek-stasis: Dasein transcends itself toward Being. As Reiner Schürmann suggests, it is because “we ‘exist ecstatically’, i.e., because we always ‘transcend’ ourselves, that we always already understand Being.”88 Being in-the-world, Dasein finds itself with others: “The world of Da-sein is a with-world. Being-in is being-with others. The innerworldly being-in-itself of others is Mitda-sein.”89 In addition to a being-with, the being-in of Dasein is also a being-ahead-of-itself. As a being concerned about Being, Dasein is already a reaching-beyond-itself in the possibilities of Being. Heidegger includes these three modalities of Dasein in his understanding of care (Sorge): “The being of Da-sein means being-ahead-of-oneself-as-already-in (the world) as being-together-with (innerworldly beings encountered). This being fills in the significance of the term care.”90 For Heidegger, Sorge (care) expresses the full dimensionality of the disclosedness of Dasein as being-in-the-world by including these additional modalities of being-with and being-ahead-of-itself.
Dasein demonstrates care (Sorge) through “concern” (Besorgen)91 and “solicitude” (Fürsorge).92 Heidegger makes an important distinction between concern for things that are present-at-hand (Vorhanden) and solicitude for Others (Anderen). Things occurring within the world are objectively present-at-hand in a manner unlike the being-in and being-with-one-another of Dasein. Solicitude, as a state of Dasein’s being, is authentic care for the Dasein of others as encountered through being-with: “Dasein-with characterizes the Dasein of Others to the extent that it is freed by its world for a Being-with. Only so far as one’s own Dasein has the essential structure of Being-with, is it Dasein-with as encounterable for Others.”93 Dasein as Dasein-with comports itself toward other Dasein through the care of solicitude (Fürsorge) as authentic being-with-one-another being-in-the-world.
Dasein as being-in is a clearing (Lichtung) through which Being presences: “To say that it [Dasein] is ‘illuminated’ means that it is cleared in itself as being-in-the-world, not by another being, but in such a way that it is itself the clearing.”94 Here Heidegger is developing an understanding of Dasein that continues throughout his later philosophy—an understanding that interprets Dasein through disclosedness, possibility, world, and care.
Through disclosedness, the being that we call Da-sein is in the possibility of being its there. It is there for itself, together with its world, initially and for the most part in such a way that it has disclosed its potentiality-of-being in terms of the “world” taken care of. The potentiality-of-being as which Da-sein exists has always already given itself over to definite possibilities.95
Dasein exists authentically in an attunement to the possibilities of this potentiality-of-being—an attunement that is disclosed in the world as care. This attunement is through authentic seeing (as beholding the wonder of Being) and authentic listening (as a coming-to-understanding of the call of conscience).
Authentic seeing, for Heidegger, is a type of beholding (Anschauung) through which Dasein beholds the unconcealing and unhiddenness of Being: “Being is that which shows itself in the pure perception which belongs to beholding, and only by such seeing does Being get discovered. Primordial and genuine truth lies in pure beholding.”96 Here Heidegger is contrasting everyday seeing (the everyday visual perception of phenomena that arises through Dasein’s natural curiosity) to seeing as beholding, the “contemplation that wonders at being, thaumazein.”97
In a similar fashion, Heidegger contrasts everyday and authentic listening. Dasein is summoned to its own disclosedness through the call of conscience: “The call of conscience has the character of summoning Dasein to its ownmost potentiality-of-being-a-self.”98 The summons calls Dasein forth from inauthenticity—from ordinary everyday (existentiell, ontic) existence—to the authenticity of ontological existential transcendence. This ontological dimension lies forgotten in the everydayness of Dasein. As a finite being, Dasein is characterized by “thrown-ness” (Geworfenheit): “As thrown, Da-sein has been thrown into existence. It exists as a being that has to be as it is and can be.”99 “Thrown-ness” describes the ontological situation of Dasein as “being delivered over to the there”100 and is characterized by “fallen-ness” (Verfallenheit) into inauthenticity. “Fallen-ness” is Heidegger’s term for Dasein’s absorption into the everydayness of existence: “As an authentic potentiality for being a self, Da-sein has initially always already fallen away from itself and fallen prey to the ‘world.’”101 Conscience summons Dasein to authenticity; authentic listening hears the summoning call of conscience.
Authentic existence, for Heidegger, is not something “which floats above falling everydayness; existentially, it is only a modified way in which such everydayness is seized upon.”102 Authentic existence is a matter of comportment through which Dasein recollects its own existential, ontological transcendence toward Being. Dasein, hearing the call, chooses its own possibilities as Dasein: “Understanding the call, Da-sein listens to its ownmost possibility of existence. It has chosen itself.”103 Dasein chooses its own possibilities as Dasein through resolve (Entschlossenheit): “Resolute, Da-sein is revealed to itself in its actual factical potentiality-of-being in such a way that it itself is this revealing and being revealed.”104
The resolve of Dasein unfolds in time and is expressed through discourse. Accepting itself as finite transcendence, Dasein exists in the in-between of birth and death: “Temporalizing itself with regard to its being as temporality, Da-sein is essentially ‘in a world’ on the basis of the ecstatic and horizontal constitution of that temporality.”105 Dasein’s disclosedness is expressed in the temporal present by discourse: “The complete disclosedness of the There constituted by understanding, attunement, and
