Heidegger coined Dasein to avoid the assumptions carried by words like mind and consciousness.

Evidence

As his readers soon notice, Heidegger tends to reject familiar philosophical terms in favour of new ones which he coins himself. He leaves the German Sein or Being more or less as it is, but when it comes to talking about the questioner for whom its Being is in question (i.e. me, a human), he strenuously avoids talk of humanity, man, mind, soul or consciousness, because of the scientific, religious or metaphysical assumptions such words conceal. Instead, he speaks of ‘Dasein’, a word normally meaning ‘existence’ in a general way, and compounded of da (there) and sein (to be). Thus, it means ‘there-being’, or ‘being-there’. — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café, 201

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines Dasein (‘being-there’), the single most essential Heideggerian term for the reader’s orientation.
• XREF: Heidegger’s coinage strategy parallels Husserl’s epoché — both strip away inherited assumptions — and connects to how later philosophers distrusted ordinary language vocabulary. — connects to: Heidegger’s positive descriptions of Dasein mask hidden negations — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness: An Essay on…, 216; Heidegger’s term Dasein deliberately prevents direct self-recognition in his descriptions — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café: Freedom,…, 202; Heidegger rejects consciousness-as-container or intentional-aboutness models of mind — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café: Freedom,…, 592 (+4 more)

Broader Connections

• Heidegger’s term Dasein deliberately prevents direct self-recognition in his descriptions #expands (0.80) — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café, 202
• Heidegger rejects consciousness-as-container or intentional-aboutness models of mind #expands (0.78) — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café, 592
• Heidegger saw humanity as the place where Being becomes conscious of itself #qualifies (0.72) — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café, 593