Commentary on Alphonso Lingis’s article, The World as a Whole Essay

Commentary on Alphonso Lingiss phrase, The World as a WholeMartin Heideggers work in organism and Time elucidated a phenomenological ontology in which death and anxiety function as the imminent possibility of impossibility, circumscribing Dasein and inscribing weight to Daseins temporal existence. He constructs an individual whose ontological whole is do of three fundamental elements that function as a whole understanding, feeling and action. This being, Dasein (translated as Being There), exists in the world, and Heidegger constructs Daseins ontology as being-in-the-world. This is the way Alphonso Lingis predicates his understanding of Heidegerrian phenomenology in an essay from Research in Phenomenology entitled The World as a Whole. In this paper, I will review this article, for it holds two extremely arouse facets to be understood by any student of phenomenology. First off, it is a very well written review of Heideggers phenomenology it spans from the work in Being and Ti me to the work done in Poetry Language Thought, and all the way to a later essay entitled Things. Heideggers work changed radically over this time, and Lingis does a great job at showing a fluidity in his work, particularly through the notion of dwelling. Also in this article one mountain find some great similarities between the work of Martin Heidegger and Alphonso Lingiss own work on death, anxiety, imperatives, the elemental and enjoyment. Lingiss own authorship rarely refers explicitly to his predecessors, his writing is full of imagery and refers constantly to experience, it can be difficult for a reader of Lingis to locate his influences by just breeding his work. But, this work (along with Deathbound Subjectivities) shows Li... ...g experience as a burden, when we are in the mood of exhilarationthe sense of lightness of beingis the sense of alleviation of the burden of being and thus presupposes and reveals itWhy not say that the oppressive, burdensome sense of the wor ld presupposes the more basic sense of the lightness of the clearing around us. This is a samara point in Lingiss transition from Heidegger, and shows his Levinasian influences. In conclusion, this article is a great artifact for any student of phenomenology. Lingis is a very articulate writer, who can point out the most perplexing complexities in Heideggers work and lay them out for anyone to read. He also makes huge steps in realizing Heideggers limitations in his notions of equipmentality and mood by recognizing the burden of the world not primary to existence, that existence is primarily lived through enjoyment.