Anlass

Anlass (occasion, Latin: ob-, toward, cadere-, to fall) is one of many words from the root lassen (to let) which Heidegger frequently employs, for instance, in sich einlassen (to engage in, to enter into), veranlassen (to occasion, to induce), etc. Here Heidegger uses Anlass (occasion) like Auslösen (releasing) in a deeper existential sense of letting something come into presence, bringing something forth out of concealment into unconcealment, i.e., what the Greeks thought as bringing-forth in physis (nature) and poiesis (arts, crafts). The “occasioning,” which is ontologically prior to “causality,” is the doctor’s existential “being-with” (Mitsein) the patient, in contrast to treating him as an “object” of medical expertise. Concerning the difference between Heidegger’s distinctions between “cause,” “occasion,” and “occasioning,” see Basic Writings, p. 292 f. – (Krell, GA89)