CHAPTER ONE
The Exposition of the Task of a Preparatory Analysis of Dasein
§ 9. The Theme of the Analytic of Dasein
The being whose analysis our task is, is always we* ourselves. The being of this being is always mine. In the being of this being it is related to its being.+ As the being of this being, it is entrusted to its [42] own being. It is being‡ about which this being is concerned. From this characteristic of Dasein two things follow:
1. The "essence" ["Wesen"] of this being lies in its to be.§ The whatness (essentia) of this being must be understood in terms of its being (existentia) insofar as one can speak of it at all. Here the ontological task is precisely to show that when we choose the word existence for the being of this being, this term does not and cannot have the ontological meaning of the traditional expression of existentia. According to the tradition, existentia ontologically means being present [Vorhandensein], a kind of being which is essentially inappropriate to characterize the being which has the character of Dasein. We can avoid confusion by always using the interpretive expression objective presence [Vorhandenheit] for the term existentia, and by attributing existence [Existenz] as a determination of being only to Dasein.
The "essence" ["Wesen"] of Dasein lies in its existence [Existenz]. The characteristics to be found in this being are thus not present "attributes" of an objectively present bemg which has such and such an "outward appearance," but rather possible ways for it to be, and only this. All being, one way or another, of this being is primarily being [sein]. Thus the term "Dasein," which we use to designate this being,
* always "I"
† But this is historical being-in-the-world.
‡ Which one? To be [zu sein] the There [Das Da] and thus to persist [bestehen] in beyng [Seyn] as such.
§ that it "has" to be [zu seyn]; definition!
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