INTRODUCTION TO "WHAT IS METAPHYSICS?"
but also from the definition of animal rationale? To characterize with a single term both the relation of Being to the essence of man and the essential relation of man to the openness ("there" ["Da"]) of Being [Sein] as such, the name of "Dasein" [there-being] was chosen for the essential realm in which man stands as man. This term was employed even though in metaphysics it is used interchangeably with existentia, actuality, reality, and objectivity, and although this metaphysical usage is further supported by the common [German] expression "menschliches Dasein" [human existence]. Any attempt at thoughtfulness is therefore thwarted as long as one is satisfied with the observation that in Being and Time the term "Dasein" is used in place of "consciousness." As if this were simply a matter of using different words! As if it were not the one and only thing at stake here: namely, to bring us to think the relation of Being to the essence of man and thus, from our point of view,2 to present initially an experience of the human essence that may prove sufficient to direct our inquiry. The term "Dasein" neither takes the place of the term "consciousness," nor does the "matter" designated as "Dasein" take the place of what we represent to ourselves when we speak of "consciousness." Rather, "Dasein" names that which is first of all to be experienced, and subsequently thought accordingly, as a placeb - namely, as the locality of the truth of Being.
What the term "Dasein" means throughout the treatise Being and Time is indicated already by the guiding thesis: "The 'essence' of Dasein lies in its existence" (Being and Time, p. 42).
To be sure, in the language of metaphysics the word "existence" is a synonym of "Dasein": both refer to the actuality of anything at all that is actual, from God to a grain of sand. As long, therefore, as the quoted sentence is understood only superficially, [203] the difficulty of what is to be thought is merely transferred from the word "Dasein" to the word "existence." In Being and Time, the term "existence" is used exclusively for the Being of the human being. Once "existence" is understood correctly, the "essence" of Dasein can be thought, in whose openness Being itself announces and conceals itself, grants itself and withdraws; at the same time, this truth of Being does not exhaust itself in {GA 9: 374} Dasein, nor can it by any means simply be identified with it after the fashion of the metaphysical proposition that all objectivity is as such also subjectivity.
What does "existence" mean in Being and Time? The word names a way of Being; specifically, the Being of that being which stands open for the
a Fifth edition, 1949: But no longer starting from "us" as subjects.
b Fifth edition, 1949: Inadequately said: the locality dwelt in by mortals, the mortal region of the locality.
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