Bootstrapping

In Heidegger's philosophy, "thrownness" (German: "Geworfenheit") refers to the idea that humans are passively "thrown" into existence in the world, without choosing their circumstances or having any control over their "being-in-the-world," essentially meaning we are born into a pre-existing world with a set of conditions and limitations that we did not choose; it signifies the fundamental fact that our existence is not something we actively create but rather something that has already happened to us.

From Google Gemini's overview from prompt "heidegger's concept of thrownness"


... The meaning of “Dasein’s thrownness”

The word ‘thrown’ means to be put roughly and abruptly in a place, or to be sent suddenly into a particular state or condition. Heidegger’s notion of the thrownness of Dasein into the world must start from this brief definition.

We find ourselves, and are always found by others, already sent into and dwelling in a place and a condition from which escaping is impossible. This abrupt sending or rough putting means that we cannot choose that into which we were sent or that in which we were put.

That into which we are thrown, without choosing, is the place of our birth, the moment of our birth, our race, religion, history, and culture. That is, that into which we are thrown is our world.

We are also thrown into the impossibility of knowing why we are thrown into this world, this race, religion, history, or culture. Thrownness is thus multiple, for it is not only a thrownness into the world, but also a thrownness into non-knowing and the impossibility of knowing.

Thrownness also means that we did not choose that into which we were sent, yet it forms, shapes, and influences our past, present, and future. That which we did not choose affects our possibilities and impossibilities.

Heidegger calls this involuntary sending, or putting, “thrownness”, and calls the burden that we must carry because of this “thrownness” “facticity”.

“Facticity”

Facticity is the totality of the circumstances in which we find ourselves, or in which we are found, thought together with our own future possibilities that arise from out of these circumstances.

This means that although we find ourselves already thrown into that which we did not choose, we are always faced with the responsibility and possibility of deciding our own path in the midst of this involuntary sending. That is, it is in this non-choosing that a real choosing might occur.

...

From Haitham Abukhadra's 'What Does Heidegger Mean by “Dasein’s Thrownness”?'


To be clear, we do not think there is a 'personalized thrower' (i.e. an anthropomorphized God), nor a pre-made human to be thrown. Rather, we believe nature's processes are conditions in which persons individuate.

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