Heidegger accesses Being through ordinary everydayness rather than unusual states

Evidence

Heidegger gives us Dasein in its weekday clothes, as it were: not in its Sunday best, but in its ‘everydayness’. Other philosophers have tended to start with a human being in an unusual state, such as sitting alone in a room staring into the embers of a fire and thinking — which was how Descartes began. They then go on to use simple, everyday terms to describe the result. Heidegger does the opposite. He takes Dasein in its most ordinary moments, then talks about it in the most innovative way he can. — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café, 212

Categorization

• DEFINE: Clarifies Dasein’s ‘everydayness’ as the central starting point for understanding Being-in-the-world.
• XREF: The contrast with Descartes’ meditative starting point echoes approaches in analytic philosophy of mind and ordinary language philosophy. — connects to: Heidegger’s pre-ontological comprehension of being escapes the vicious circle — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness: An Essay on…, 155; For Heidegger, Being-in-the-world means humans serve as a clearing where things reveal themselves — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café: Freedom,…, 591; Heidegger’s 1929 lecture could induce near-ecstatic states in listeners. — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café: Freedom,…, 249 (+4 more)

Broader Connections

• For Heidegger, Being-in-the-world means humans serve as a clearing where things reveal themselves #expands (0.85) — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café, 591