Lovitt: SEIENDE

“Whatever is” here translates Seienden, the present participle of the German verb sein (to be) used as a noun. The necessity in English of translating Sein, when it appears as a noun, with “Being” precludes the possibility of the use of the most obvious translation, “being,” for Seiendes. A phrase such as the “Being of being” or “Being in the midst of being” would clearly present unacceptable difficulties. Heidegger does not intend das Seiende to refer primarily to any mere aggregate of entities or beings, let alone to a particular being. The word connotes for him, first of all, the intricately interrelated entirety of all that is, in whose “is” Being is made manifest. The verbal force of the participle is always significantly present. In these essays, the translation of das Seiende will vary according to the demands of particular contexts. The translations “what is,” “whatever is,” “that which is,” “what is in being,” “whatever is in being,” and “that which is in being” will ordinarily be used.