Heidegger saw humanity as the place where Being becomes conscious of itself

Evidence

The astronomer Carl Sagan began his 1980 television series Cosmos by saying that human beings, though made of the same stuff as the stars, are conscious and are therefore ‘a way for the cosmos to know itself’. Merleau-Ponty similarly quoted his favourite painter Cézanne as saying, ‘The landscape thinks itself in me, and I am its consciousness.’ This is something like what Heidegger thinks humanity contributes to the earth. We are not made of spiritual nothingness; we are part of Being, but we also bring something unique with us. It is not much: a little open space, perhaps with a path and a bench like the one the young Heidegger used to sit on to do his homework. But through us, the miracle occurs. — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café, 593

Categorization

• DEFINE: Explains late Heidegger’s idea of Dasein as an open clearing where Being knows itself, via memorable Sagan and Cézanne parallels.
• CANDY: Sagan’s ‘a way for the cosmos to know itself’ and Cézanne’s ‘the landscape thinks itself in me’ are both quotable gems.
• SEED: A compare/contrast piece on how scientists (Sagan) and phenomenologists (Merleau-Ponty, Heidegger) both frame consciousness as the cosmos knowing itself.
• XREF: connects to: Heidegger defines human reality through inseparable moments of world, being-in, and being; Heidegger coined Dasein to avoid the assumptions carried by words like mind and consciousness. — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café: Freedom,…, 201; For Heidegger, Being-in-the-world means humans serve as a clearing where things reveal themselves — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café: Freedom,…, 591 (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• For Heidegger, Being-in-the-world means humans serve as a clearing where things reveal themselves #expands (0.92) — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café, 591