After our first class on Heidegger, I did not entirely agree with the concepts that we went over. This disagreement was somewhat resolved after our second class discussion and further reading, but I still somewhat disagree with one concept.
We have said since the beginning of this class that our ownmost possibility, that one solitary aspect of our lives that is entirely our own, is our death. I agree with the explanation that the world cannot experience it the way we do, and we can't tell about it. Additionally, we aren't even entirely sure that we experience it at all, since none of us can come back and explain the experience. I know that Cole brought up the question "so what if we all drink the punch?" in class, which I still haven't quite wrapped my head around.
The part that I can disagree with is that this is our only ownmost possibility. We all have our own individual experiences, thoughts, memories, emotions, and interactions. I agree that these things are very easily influenced by the rest of the world. However, I think we should be able to count the entire combination of these experiences, thoughts, memories, emotions, interactions, etc. as another very individual entity. I'm sure somebody will comment about the fact that even this melting pot is not our own, but is influenced and changed by people around us. I know that Heidegger would definitely disagree with me.
One of the things about us that I find absolutely fascinating is thought. Regardless of how well I know somebody, I can never know what they are thinking at that exact moment, and they cannot know what I'm thinking. Our thoughts move so fast that I don't think it would be possible to try to communicate those thoughts. I don't want to get too off-topic with my general worldview, but I also don’t think it is possible to completely convey who you are as a person to anybody else. Nobody else can ever know exactly what you have been through, whether you choose to try to tell them or not. I find this to be comforting in some ways, but mostly I enjoy wondering how other people see the world, and what they remember most vividly. This is also the reason that I have decided that I could never be a neurosurgeon—I don’t think I can know enough about our brains and minds during my career for me to be comfortable poking around in there.
I would love to hear some other opinions on this, since I don't think that I have fully grasped Heidegger yet. As I said in class, I do not want to avoid questions or concepts that I find hard to understand.
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I understand your confusion, as well as your point. I don't think that you are observing the "death as our utmost possibility" through the proper lens. Sure we have these experiences that seem unique to our lives, and sure they are special to us. But it seems that the argument here is that it is all leading up to ones death. "They say" that the two things in life everyone has to do in life is pay taxes and die. Well obviously one of those is true. I think this is ultimately speaking to that.
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