Being and Time raises the problem of "authenticity," that is, the potentiality or otherwise for mortal "Dasein" to exist "fully" enough that it might actually understand being. Heidegger is clear throughout the book that nothing makes certain that "Dasein" is capable of this understanding. Finally, this question of the authenticity of individual "Dasein" cannot be separated from the "historicality" of "Dasein". On the one hand, "Dasein", as mortal, is "stretched along" between birth and death, and thrown into its world, that is, thrown into its "possibilities", possibilities which "Dasein" is charged with the task of assuming. On the other hand, "Dasein's" access to
Brian O'Shaughnessy (philosopher) Brian O'Shaughnessy (philosopher) Brian Joseph O'Shaughnessy (10 September 1925 – 7 July 2010) was an Australian philosopher of mind, who lived in London and taught at King's College London. He published influential papers on the nature of physical action and the will, at a time when this was quite unfashionable. He was born in Kew, a suburb of Melbourne in Australia, where his father was a doctor. He studied at Xavier College and then attended Melbourne University, firstly studying engineering before changing to philosophy. He graduated in 1950 and then went to England to continue his studies at Oxford University.