Living existence: the emergency of non-existential phenomenon in the experience of dreamless sleep.

• Main Author: Róbson Ramos dos Reis
• Format: Article
• Language: Portuguese
• Published: Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio) 2020-07-01
• Series: O Que Nos Faz Pensar
• Online Access: http://www.oquenosfazpensar.fil.puc-rio.br/index.php/oqnfp/article/view/703

In this paper, I examine the problem of the emergence of non-existential phenomena in the field of historical existence. According to hermeneutic ontological pluralism outlined in the fundamental ontology of Being and Time, life and existence are two autonomous and irreducible modes of being. Based on the results of the recent science of sleep, I will emphasize the relevance of a formal indication, formulated by Heidegger in the Fundamental Concepts of Metaphysics, to explain the ontological commitments entailed by the interpretation of a special kind of phenomenal experience in the stage of deep dreamless sleep. Based on the concepts of existential feeling and bodily feeling, I will present the interpretation of the experience in dreamless sleep as the feeling of being alive. This interpretation leads to the conclusion that the ontological commitments involved in dreamless sleep reach the metaontological level, suggesting the need to elaborate a dynamic mereology of modes of being.