Resoluteness and Being-towards-death

The connection between the two involves the comprehension of three steps.

1. For Heidegger understanding is the projection of Dasein onto a possibility. When Dasein understands itself, it has thrusted itself forward into a possibility of some sort. It has done this either authentically or inauthentically--i.e. in such a way that it has projected itself towards a possibility as something like a Self (authentic) or as something like a worldly thing (inauthentic) that goes about its projection like a business affair (existence is just mere business to an inauthentic projection; its possibilities are just mere "options" to be calculated about as to whether they will bring "success" or not).

2. If Dasein is projecting itself authentically, it understands (or projects) itself as guilty--that is, as thrown-projection, as care--and this type of projection is therefore "resolute". By "thrown," we mean that authentic Dasein projects itself upon its possibilities as something that has already had possibilities open to it such that its current possibilities grow out of those previous possibilities. In other words, Dasein's possibilities are determined or determinate--not in the sense that they are necessitated, but in the sense that they follow from Dasein's structure as a thing that has already decided upon previous possibilities and approaches this new possibility as one that is connected to those through itself (this is the structure of "care"). Understanding yourself as determinate in this way is to be guilty for Heidegger: you are guilty of previously deciding in some way such that you brought this new possibility before yourself, such that you inhabit some mode of care with regard to it. Resoluteness as the understanding of "thrown-projection" then means you project or thrust forward out of this guilt. Inauthentic Dasein never encounters itself, therefore, as thrown-projection (i.e. even if it encounters itself as projection, as having possibilities that are not mere "options," it still does not project itself as if it is thrown--and vice versa).

3. As an understanding, resoluteness can only be resolute authentically if it maintains itself in anticipation, i.e. in such a way that it understands itself or projects itself upon its ownmost potentiality-for-being: only if projection projects itself towards possibilities that are possible for Dasein in its most individualized or ownmost mode (i.e. only if it anticipates) can they be possible, and this (i.e. this anticipation) is Being-towards-death. Only projection in such a way that Dasein is individualized or its owmnost (i.e. its essence) is it authentic. Thus authenticity needs both maintenence towards yourself as care and ownmost-ness--i.e. maintenence towards yourself as individualized care, care that is yours alone--in order to be. And only anticipation is the way that this projection can occur. Anticipation is merely the type of projection that does not comport itself towards Dasein in its structure--this is resoluteness, which maintains itself towards Dasein as guilty care--but rather comports itself towards the possibilties of Dasein as of Dasein. In other words, authentic projection does two things. First, it is resolute, and therefore is a comportment of Dasein towards its true essence as that essence. Second, it is anticipation, which is a comportment of itself towards its possibilities not as issuing out of itself (this is resoluteness) but as coming from beyond oneself and from a place to which Dasein will go. To use Heideggerian terms, resoluteness is Dasein's authentic facticity, and anticipation is Dasein's authentic existentiality. Now, Dasein is anticipatory only in Being-towards-death, that is, Being-towards or projecting itself upon that instance when it could possibly be no more--where it could have no more possibilities. If Dasein understands itself as or projects itself towards its death, and Dasein will see its possibilities for what they are: namely, possibilities that are for a being that is Dasein and Dasein only, since when they are taken away from Dasein if he were to die they would be taken away from nothing else than it.

This is all a bit muddled, but I hope the three step structure brings out what Heidegger's logic is in the confusing third chapter of the second division of Being and Time. Everything turns on combining authentic facticity (resoluteness) and authentic existentiality (anticipation). Because each of these two states also has corresponding aspects of facticity and existentiality, simply because they were distinguished seperately and in such a way that Dasein was both of them (and Dasein canot be anything other than factical and existent)--because of this things get complicated, and the two phenomena seem to break apart even more. But seeing them as merely these two aspects of facticity and existentiality hopefully shows that they are essentially different names for the same thing: authentic Dasein.