373 II. 3
Being and Time

inauthentic Being-towards-death belongs to Dasein's Being, then such Being-towards-death is possible only as something futural [als zukünjtiges], in the sense which we have now indicated, and which we have still to define more closely. By the term 'futural', we do not here have in view a "now" which has not yet become 'actual' and which sometime will be for the first time. We have in view the coming [Kunft] in which Dasein, in its ownmost potentiality-for-Being, comes towards itself. Anticipation makes Dasein authentically futural, and in such a way that the anticipation itself is possible only in so far as Dasein, as being, is always coming towards itself—that is to say, in so far as it is futural in its Being in general.

Anticipatory resoluteness understands Dasein in its own essential Being-guilty. This understanding means that in existing one takes over Being-guilty; it means being the thrown basis of nullity. But taking over thrownness signifies being Dasein authentically as it already was.1 Taking over thrownness, however, is possible only in such a way that the futural Dasein can be its ownmost 'as-it-already-was'—that is to say, its [326] 'been' [sein "Gewesen"]. Only in so far as Dasein is as an "I-am-as-having-been", can Dasein come towards itself futurally in such a way that it comes back.2 As authentically futural, Dasein is authentically as "having been".3 Anticipation of one's uttermost and ownmost possibility is coming back understandingly to one's ownmost "been". Only so far as it is futural can Dasein be authentically as having been. The character of "having been" arises, in a certain way, from the future.4

Anticipatory resoluteness discloses the current Situation of the "there" in such a way that existence, in taking action, is circumspectively concerned with what is factically ready-to-hand environmentally. Resolute


1 'Übernahme der Geworfenheit aber bedeutet, das Dasein in dem, wie es je schon war, eigentlich sein.'

2 'N ur sofern Dasein überhaupt ist als ich bin-gewesen, kann es zukünftig auf sich selbst so zukommen, dass es zurück-kommt.' Many German verbs form their perfect tense with the help of the auxiliary 'sein' ('to be') in place of the somewhat more usual 'haben' ('have'), just as we sometimes say in English 'he is gone' instead of 'he has gone'. Among such verbs is 'sein' itself. This 'I have been' is expressed by 'ich bin gewesen'; this might be translated as 'I am been', but in this context we have ventured to transl ate it as 'I am as having been'.

3 'Eigentlich zukünftig ist das Dasein eigentlich gewesen.'

4 'Die Gewesenheit entspringt in gewisser Weise der Zukunft.' Here 'The character of having been' represents 'Die Gewesenheit' (literally, 'beenhood'). Heidegger distinguishes this sharply from 'die Vergangenheit' ('pastness') . We shall frequently translate 'Gewesenheit' simply as 'having been'.


Being and Time (M&R) by Martin Heidegger