Re: Introduction to Heidegger- Dasein

beste Henk,

je schreef:

>Would we not have a problem if Dasein sometimes
>has a potentiality for Being but not right now?

en Michael schreef eerder:

>But also: Seyn needs Dasein.

is the meaning/use of your word "Being" here the same
as Michael's "Seyn" ?

     the most difficult for me in this whole exchange, on the
     topic of Dasein, is to understand words [concepts] like:
     "Dasein, dasein, Being, Beying, being, beings, etc." as
     used by the various contributers; maybe what we need
     is some SHLV (Standard Heidegger List Vocabulary)

>Dasein is free for its death.

     "What is the greatest miracle ? The greatest miracle is
     that we, although always surrounded by death and decay,
     live as if we are immortal." [Mahabharata]

yours,
Jan

[some more on Dasein and here deaths]

Scientists see mass extinctions

               Two-thirds of all species could
               vanish in 100 years, they fear

               Humans are causing the extinction of
               species at a rate rivaling Earth?s five previous
               mass extinctions, among them the one that wiped
               out dinosaurs 65 million years ago, botanists
               warned this week at the annual meeting of the
               International Botanical Congress.

?WE ARE predicting the extinction of about two-thirds
of all bird, mammal, butterfly and plant species by the end
of the next century, based on current trends," said IBC
President Peter Raven.

At the current pace of habitat destruction, only 5
percent of the world?s tropical rain forest will be left by the
middle of the next century, Raven said, basing his estimates
on a new review of studies on extinction rates.

The most species loss is occurring in the tropics of
South America, Africa and Asia, and with it the chance to
discover new foods and medicines. Of the estimated seven
to 10 million species on Earth, only about 1.6 million have
been recognized scientifically.

?Hundreds of species are becoming extinct when only
one should," he added. ?The projected rate of extinction for
the next 100 years is equal to 65 million years ago."

NO ASTEROID THIS TIME

Among plants alone, some 50,000 of the more than
300,000 species on Earth are at risk of extinction now,
Raven said. Habitat destruction worldwide suggests at least
that many will be gone within 25 years, and 200,000
species could vanish by the end of the 21st century.

A widely held theory holds that the dinosaurs and many
other species were wiped out 65 million years ago when an
asteroid slammed into Earth, casting up a cloud that cut off
the sun?s rays and halting plant photosynthesis one of
five mass extinctions to destroy a significant portion of life
on Earth.

This time, the destruction is piecemeal as mankind
encroaches on the natural environment and leaves only
fragments of forest that cannot sustain many species, Raven
said.

In a press release, Raven also urged governments and
research institutions to take seven steps to slow plant
extinction rates ? among them creating a United Nations
agency to monitor and conserve plant resources, and
creating more research institutions in developing countries
where species are at greatest risk.

Another step: make more data on plants available on
the Web and then provide access to it to people in
developing nations.


ISLAND EXTINCTIONS

Other presentations at the weeklong conference, held
this year in St. Louis, included the threat to species that
thrive on islands.

Gregory Anderson, head of botany at the University of
Connecticut, reported that almost all plant species endemic
to islands are extinct or in danger of extinction. The reason:
they have not evolved with adequate defenses against
invading plants, animals, and microorganisms introduced by
humans. For example, the rates of extinction are 59 percent,
40 percent, and 79 percent for the Galapagos, Hawaii, and
Juan Fernandez Islands (off Chile), respectively.

On top of that, Anderson noted,, islands often have
species unique to them. For example, 42 percent of the
plants found on the Galapagos are endemic to those islands
alone; Hawaii's rate is 91 percent; and New Zealand's 81
percent.


50 'DEAD ZONES' IN OCEANS

The oceans too are under siege, with vast "dead zones"
where oxygenated water and life are scarce, other botanists
said at the meeting.

In an assessment of the "human footprint on Earth,"
researcher Jane Lubchenco of Oregon State University and
two colleagues from Stanford University presented their
findings that the oceans are being altered by man as well as
the land.

There are now some 50 "dead zones" in the world's
coastal areas, the largest in the Gulf of Mexico caused by
excess nitrogen and phosphorus flowing down the Mississippi
River.

"We're degrading the water, changing our coastlines, filling in
our estuaries, and changing our rivers," Lubchenco said in a
statement.

?We're witnessing many signals of the problems that will result
from these changes," she claimed, ?including toxic algal blooms,
coral bleaching and sudden disappearance of fish from key
fisheries.





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