Heidegger - Being and Time
Philosophy 101: Heidegger - Being and Time
The Question of Being
Martin Heidegger (1889–1976) is controversial (due to his Nazi party membership), but his philosophy changed the 20th century. He realized we had forgotten the most basic question: What does it mean to be?
He didn't like the word "Human" or "Subject." He used Dasein (Being-there). We are not isolated minds looking at a world. We are thrown into a world that already has meaning.
- Ready-to-hand: We use tools (like a hammer) without thinking about them. They are extensions of us.
- Present-at-hand: Only when the hammer breaks do we look at it as an object ("just a hammer").
Authenticity vs. The "They"
Most of us live in "inauthenticity." We do what "They" (Das Man) do. We talk about what "They" talk about. To be authentic is to face our own finitude (Death). We are "Being-towards-death." Realizing we will die snaps us out of the trance of the "They" and forces us to choose our own life.
Why He Matters
He dismantled the Descartes "Subject/Object" split. He influenced Sartre, Derrida, Foucault, and basically all of postmodernism.
Next, the man who tried to solve philosophy just by looking at words: Wittgenstein.