I think trying to show functional examples is an interesting way to go with Heidegger. Although at times we must step beyond the vault of some Kierkegaardian “new” space, we can still speculate effectively about such an “impossible” avenue.

To stay within a Heideggerian discussion, one that goes to Being, I think we can study genetics in terms of the ontic “worldings” generated. The wolf becomes a dog through selection in quick time. All our sense data—the world that shows up for us—is (or can be understood to be on a certain view) determined by genetics. We can understand changes in “worldings” even within the Darwinian discussion.

One can bring “cold philosophy” “down to earth” by watching the history of the introduction of some social change, as in the theory of Judith Butler. Or my old crude example, the games in ancient Rome: they were thought ordinary activities like the practice of “exposure” of infants—that is leaving the child to die or be taken up by another in the street. In movies today Caesar gives the thumbs up to signify that he will save the life of a gladiatorial combatant; this agrees with our present notion of normal behavior; In fact the thumbs up meant kill the man, i.e., the crowd got the pleasure of watching the blood sport’s consummation in death; “as cheap as life itself” was a common sense utterance at that time. So there is certainly change in this “modest” social sense. However, one could even say here that Dasein has changed also, if minutely. And also that such changes can happen in fits and sudden “mutations”.

To begin to outline what I’m talking about, Mahayana Buddhism’s critique of Theravadan Buddhism is essentially that it seeks an other-worldly transcendence. Mahayana Buddhism asserts that samsara (confusion; everyday reality) is not different from nirvana (enlightenment). (“As it is, whole and complete, this sense world is enlightenment.”) And yet, transcendence is not foreclosed. Though it’s perhaps not so easy to sort out how this is managed…

And it’s not as though Heidegger has the most inspiring political record. . .