HUMAN PERSONS as

ORIENTED TOWARDS
THEIR IMPENDING
DEATH

Introduction to
the Philosophy
of the
Human Person

Martin Heidegger's Dasein

GIAN CARLO C. VILLAGRACIA

General Mariano Alvarez Technical HS
 WHAT IS THIS MODULE ALL ABOUT?

This module serves as a learning resource material in understanding the

target competency expected in the curriculum.

TOPIC
Martin Heidegger's Dasein

CONTENT STANDARD
The learner understands human beings as oriented towards their
impending death

PERFORMANCE STANDARD
The learner writes a philosophical reflection on the meaning of
his/her own life

LEARNING COMPETENCY
PPT11/12-IIh-8.1: Recognize the meaning of his/her own life

The presented activities or exercises and texts are developed

in order to meet the following objectives:

1. Define Heidegger’s Dasein concept

2. Articulate the meaning of life through acceptance of death

3. Realize that you only live once

1
 PRE-TEST

Read the following items carefully. Write the

letter of your answer in a separate sheet of
paper.

1. The term dasein or being-towards- death is coined by -

A. Soren Kierkegaard
B. Friedrich Nietzsche
C. Martin Heidegger
D. Jean Paul Sartre

2. In Martin Heidegger’s concept of death, he focuses on the ___________

rather than death itself!

A. Human Person as the subject

B. Fear of death
C. Anxiety about death
D. Physical sickness

3. Martin Heidegger’s notion of existential anxiety can be best

understood by the infamous line, “________________”

A. Live today, die tomorrow

B. We are born to die
C. Live life to the fullest
D. We only live once

4. Death can be understood in two defining factors, ______ and ______.

A. Life and Love

B. Hope and Despair
C. Fear and Anxiety
D. Wonder and Change

5. This matter has no particular object in the concept of death, a feeling

of non-beingness.

A. Fear
B. Hope
C. Despair
D. Anxiety
6. This matter has a particular object, somehow a physical feeling

2
 A. Fear
B. Hope
C. Despair
D. Anxiety

7. It is simply a kind of talk “which the herd or masses conduct and it

has a character of triviality.”

A. Idle walk
B. Idle talk
C. Idle speak
D. Idle look

8. According to the philosophy of death, there are two ways to face

death, _______ and _________.

A. Escape and Accept

B. Ignore and Runaway
C. Respect and Honor
D. All of the above

9. What do you think is the best thing to do before you die?

A. Live life to the fullest

B. Accept death and face it with your whole heart
C. Live an authentic way of life
D. All of the above

10. In the concept of death, Martin Heidegger teaches us that-

A. Death is something we should be afraid of

B. Death is the end of our lives
C. Death is a certain reality, a fulfilment of man’s life
D. Death is a joke, and the joke is on us

3
 REWINDING THE PAST

Uncertainty of Death VS Leap of Faith

Death is the only way towards
the otherworld – a place created by
man where suffering will end and life
will be better. This is not true
according to Nietzsche. This is just
an illusion created by man. We shall
know the true meaning of Christian
way of life – our lives should not be
doomed forever looking towards the
otherworld. Life must be lived before
death comes – so live it according to
your desires not with belief systems.

Death is not measurable by

reason alone. We do not know what’s
inside the realm of death. But what we
can do is to prepare for something
greater than death – living a true
Christian way of life. Death is the
fulfilment of life, and for Kierkegaard,
we have to take a risk. Let us not
settle on the things we know; but let
this knowledge strengthen our
conviction and take a leap of faith: that
there is a reward after death, new life!

We have seen both sides of the coin:

a philosophy of death from an atheist and a devout Christian
- two extreme realities that render the meaning of death and life.

What have you realized about death and life?

What is death, for you?
What is the meaning of your own personal life?

4
 PLAYING THE CONCEPT

BEING-TOWARDS-DEATH
This is the literal translation of the word DASEIN – a philosophical
term coined by our philosopher for this module, MARTIN HEIDEGGER.

Martin Heidegger stands in between the philosophy of Nietzsche and

Kierkegaard though all of them point out one conclusion: living life to the
fullest! He stands in between in such a way that he focuses on the subject
matter itself which is the human person rather than focusing on death
alone. He is known for his term dasein which speaks about us, human
beings, who exist to die soon. This dasein is a human being that exists –
part and parcel of our existence is our death, simply because we are not so-
called human beings if we do not experience death. Therefore, his major
work is to put the human person at the center of all and innate with this
attribute is the reality of death.

We are born to die. Our death is certain once we are born – this is the
existential anxiety that Heidegger philosophizes towards the concept of
death. For Heidegger, death is just a fulfilment of our being and part of this
process is the existential anxiety that he talks about. Death is not a thing,
not an object, but rather an instance of being non-being.

Realizing to be a non-being is unimaginable. To think of dying is

always connected with the feeling of fear. We are afraid to die.

But Martin Heidegger is asking us, “What are you afraid of?”

5
 PAUSE AND TRY AN ACTIVITY

Facing your fears!

This activity is to examine yourself if fear exists in you.
Give eight (8) things that you feared most in your life
– physical things/objects.
Write your answers honestly and sincerely.

What are your fears? What are the ways to overcome your fear?

PAUSE AND ANALYZE THE ACTIVITY

6
 The previous activity proves that a human person like you can
overcome fears in different ways conveniently. You have your own
way on how to possibly win over your fears.

But, how about your fear of DEATH?

Are you afraid to die?

Have you felt the chills

when you imagine yourself leaving this world?

Have you ever felt the terror

of being buried 6-feet below the ground?

Have you felt the loneliness

that your family may experience when you’re gone?

I believe your answers are all YES – as a human person, it is

natural for us to feel scared about the notion of death. But have you
realized the difference between your fears about physical objects and
your fear towards death?

Is it just the concept of fear? Or is there something else that we

felt towards death?

How are we going to conquer our fear of death?

Let us dig deeper on the philosophy of Martin Heidegger to find

out what it means to live and to die. Heidegger’s dasein will help us
reflect on our attitude and approach towards death.

PLAYING THE CONCEPT ONCE AGAIN!

7
 It is not a matter of differentiating what to fear but let’s focus on
how to feel about death – what are we afraid of?

According to a Christian existentialist Paul Tillich, “Anxiety is the

existential awareness of non-being.” Now, for Martin Heidegger, the dasein
itself is our existential awareness that non-being is part of our very being as
a human person. With this idea, we can come up with an appropriate
differentiation: the difference between ANXIETY and FEAR.

What is the difference between anxiety and fear when it comes to the
concept of death?

DEATH
FEAR ANXIETY

“Has an object towards death” “Has no particular object”

Perhaps fear on the manner of death It is just a feeling of non-beingness.
like getting gunshots, falling off from We cannot identify an object of
a building, or having vehicular anxiety when it comes to the
accident realization of death.

- conclusion -

It is always constant that there is an Anxiety is far different from fear – it

object of fear towards death – we fear is just a feeling of what if’s: “What if I
death because there is a physical die? What would happen? What
pain that may occur. about my family? Etc, etc.

The ultimate question now is…

How do you face

your fear/anxiety?
For Martin Heidegger, there are two-ways on how we face death.

First is an escape from the anxiety of death which is a result of

Heidegger’s notion of Idle Talk. This idle talk is simply a kind of talk “which

8
the herd or masses conduct and it has a character of triviality.” Death is
present in all aspects – we see death every day in TV news, we see death in
common movies, we see and hear death which seems to be very common
already with other people. Death seems to be a normal thing in peoples’ lives
and we never bother to talk deeply about: rather, does an idle talk about
death.

In simplest terms, we escape death by not talking about it seriously. A

lot of people refuse to talk about what death is all about and that’s the first
thing how we face death – which is somehow contrary to what the dasein
tells us.

Second way to face death is to ACCEPT death. Yes, death is common

to us and we see every single day. Thousands of people die in each hour of
the day and the truth is we cannot escape it.

Therefore, as the dasein dictates, we shall accept death even if it

pours out the bitterness in life. Death is painful indeed, but in order for us
to live an authentic life; we shall accept death knowing that this may occur
anytime soon. Anxiety about death must be cherished every single day, and
realize that we live only once.

LET’S STOP AND APPLY WHAT WE HAVE LEARNED

A simple reflection for us as students of philosophy who tries to

fathom the gaze of death in all of us: death is a reality of man – we cannot
escape it, we just need to accept it.
The challenge for us is how to accept the reality of death. Here’s how:

o We shall be ready before death comes – we shall never have

regrets when the time comes for us – don’t be afraid to die!

o We shall do our best every single day, knowing that one day all
the things that we do shall perish and somehow we shall leave a
mark in this world about the goodness of our personhood

o We shall always bear in mind that life is lived once – the

meaning of life is useless without doing something remarkable
before death.

POST-TEST

9
 Read the following items carefully. Write the
letter of your answer in a separate sheet of
paper.

1. The term dasein or being-towards- death is coined by -

A. Soren Kierkegaard
B. Friedrich Nietzsche
C. Martin Heidegger
D. Jean Paul Sartre

2. In Martin Heidegger’s concept of death, he focuses on the ___________

rather than death itself!

A. Human Person as the subject

B. Fear of death
C. Anxiety about death
D. Physical sickness

3. Martin Heidegger’s notion of existential anxiety can be best

understood by the infamous line, “________________”

A. Live today, die tomorrow

B. We are born to die
C. Live life to the fullest
D. We only live once

4. Death can be understood in two defining factors, ______ and ______.

A. Life and Love

B. Hope and Despair
C. Fear and Anxiety
D. Wonder and Change

5. This matter has no particular object in the concept of death, a feeling

of non-beingness.

A. Fear
B. Hope
C. Despair
D. Anxiety

6. This matter has a particular object, somehow a physical feeling

10
 A. Fear
B. Hope
C. Despair
D. Anxiety

7. It is simply a kind of talk “which the herd or masses conduct and it

has a character of triviality.”

A. Idle walk
B. Idle talk
C. Idle speak
D. Idle look

8. According to the philosophy of death, there are two ways to face

death, _______ and _________.

A. Escape and Accept

B. Ignore and Runaway
C. Respect and Honor
D. All of the above

9. What do you think is the best thing to do before you die?

A. Live life to the fullest

B. Accept death and face it with your whole heart
C. Live an authentic way of life
D. All of the above

10. In the concept of death, Martin Heidegger teaches us that-

A. Death is something we should be afraid of

B. Death is the end of our lives
C. Death is a certain reality, a fulfilment of man’s life
D. Death is a joke, and the joke is on us

11
 LET’S REPLAY!

 Martin Heidegger coined the idea of being-towards-death or the

dasein

 Existential anxiety is about the realization about death as

 The fear of death has an object

 The anxiety over death is just a feeling of non-beingness

 There are two ways to face the fear and anxiety of death: escape
or accept

 Idle talk is a way of making death a common topic in every day

12
 Answer Key

Pre-Test

1. C
2. A
3. B
4. C
5. D
6. A
7. B
8. A
9. D
10. C

Post-Test

1. C
2. A
3. B
4. C
5. D
6. A
7. B
8. A
9. D
10. C

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