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Brecht 100 < = > 2000 
Brecht's "Smashing" of Heidegger: 
The Baden-Baden Lesson on Consent 
as a Possible Critique of Sein und Zeit 
B recht's Badener Lehrstick vom Einverst~ndnis can be interpreted as a 
covert critique of Heidegger, specifically of the famous analysis of death
developed in Sein und Zeit. Heidegger posits two modes of conduct 
towards finitude: an authentic and inauthentic Sein zum Tode. Whereas 
authentic Dasein cultivates an individualized relation to death as the 
ultimate possibility of gaining selfhood, inauthentic Dasein - or das Man
- ignores the existential relevance of its finitude by remaining entrapped
in an anonymous, public sphere. In his play, Brecht attempts to reverse 
Heidegger's model, asserting the primacy of the social over the personal
function of death. He dispossesses authentic Dasein of its individual claim
on finitude and reinstates the importance of dying for the socialist 
collective. 
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