Heidegger - Animal Captivation

Behavior as a manner of being in general is only possible on the basis of the animal's absorption in itself [Eingenommenheit in sich].  We shall describe the specific way in which the animal remains with itself -- which has nothing to do with the selfhood of the human being comporting him or herself as a person -- this way in which the animal is absorbed in itself, and which makes possible behavior of any and every kind, as captivation [Benommenheit].  The animal can only behave insofar as it is essentially captivated.  The possibility of behaving in the manner of animal being is grounded in this essential structure of the animal, a structure we will now elucidate as captivation.  Captivation is the condition of possibility for the fact that, in accordance with its essence, the animal behaves within an environment but never within a world.





-Heidegger, M.  Die grundbegriffe der metaphysik.  1929-30.  trns. McNeill and Walker. 


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