Read complete books and articles on: Martin Heidegger

Heidegger, Martin - märˈtēn hīˈdĕger, 1889–1976, German philosopher. As a student at Freiburg, Heidegger was influenced by the neo-Kantianism of Heinrich Rickert and the phenomenology of Edmund Husserl. In 1923 he became professor at Marburg, where he wrote and published the only completed part of his major work, Sein und Zeit (1927; tr. Being and Time, 1962). On the basis of this work Heidegger was called (1928) to Freiburg to succeed Husserl in the chair of philosophy, which he occupied until his retirement in 1951. He actively supported Adolf Hitler during the dictator's first years in power, and after World War II was banned from teaching and publishing for five years.

Although generally considered a founder of existentialism, Heidegger vehemently rejected the association, just as he came to reject Husserl's phenomenology. Heidegger's fundamental concern, as announced in Sein und Zeit and developed in his subsequent works, is the problem of being. In Sein und Zeit, being is shown to be intimately linked with temporality; the relationship between them is investigated by means of an analysis of human existence. Strongly influenced by Sören Kierkegaard, Heidegger delineated various aspects of human existence, such as "care," "moods," and the individual's relationship to death, and related the authenticity of being, as well as the anguish of modern society, to the individual's confrontation with his own temporality. It was this work and its influence upon Jean-Paul Sartre that have led many critics to consider Heidegger an existentialist. In addition to its influence on Sartre, Heidegger's thought influenced both modern Protestant theology (through Paul Tillich and Rudolph Bultmann) and the work of Jacques Derrida and other advocates of deconstruction.

The ontological aspect of Heidegger's thought assumed greater prominence in his later writings, which included studies of poetry and of dehumanization in modern society. Heidegger considered himself the first thinker in the history of Western philosophy to have raised explicitly the question concerning the "sense of being," and he located the crisis of Western civilization in mass "forgetfulness of being." Among his other works are Kant and the Problem of Metaphysics (1929, tr. 1962), What Is Metaphysics? (1929, tr. 1949), An Introduction to Metaphysics (1953, tr. 1959), What Is Philosophy? (1956, tr. 1958), and The End of Philosophy (1956, tr. 1973).

See studies by T. Langan (1959), M. King (1964), J. M. Demske (1963, tr. 1970), L. M. Vail (1972), S. L. Binderman (1981), H. G. Wolz (1981), R. Wolin (199O; ed., 1993; and 2001), K. Lowith (tr. 1995), and R. Safranski (1998); E. Ettinger, Hannah Arendt, Martin Heidegger (1995) and D. Villa, Arendt and Heidegger: The Fate of the Political (1995).

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15 of the Best Books and Articles on: Martin Heidegger

as selected by Questia librarians

1.

Heidegger: A Very Short Introduction » Read Now
by Michael Inwood. 150 pgs.

Collections: Philosophy, Entire Library

Martin Heidegger (1889-1976) is probably the most divisive philosopher of the twentieth century: viewed by some as a charlatan and by others as a leader and central figure of modern philosophy. Michael Inwood's lucid introduction to Heidegger's thought focuses on his most important work, "Being and...
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Martin Heidegger (1889-1976) is probably the most divisive philosopher of the twentieth century: viewed by some as a charlatan and by others as a leader and central figure of modern philosophy. Michael Inwood's lucid introduction to Heidegger's thought focuses on his most important work, "Being and Time," and its major themes of existence in the world, inauthenticity, guilt, destiny, truth, and the nature of time. These themes are then reassessed in the light of Heidegger's later work, together with the extent of his philosophical importance and influence. This is an invaluable guide to the complex and voluminous thought of a major twentieth-century existentialist philosopher.
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2.

Being and Time » Read Now
by Martin Heidegger, John MacQuarrie, Edward Robinson. 592 pgs.

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3.

Routledge Philosophy Guidebook to Heidegger and Being and Time » Read Now
by Stephen Mulhall. 202 pgs.

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Heidegger is one of the most controversial thinkers of the twentieth century. A difficult and powerful philosopher, his work requires careful reading. Being and Time was his first major book and remains his most influential work. Heidegger and Being and Time introduces and assesses: Heidegger's...
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Heidegger is one of the most controversial thinkers of the twentieth century. A difficult and powerful philosopher, his work requires careful reading. Being and Time was his first major book and remains his most influential work. Heidegger and Being and Time introduces and assesses: Heidegger's life and the background of Being and Time ; the ideas and text of Being and Time ; Heidegger's importance to philosophy and to the intellectual life of this century.Ideal for anyone coming to Heidegger for the first time, this guide will be vital for all students of Heidegger in philosophy and cultural theory.
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4.

Heidegger's Analytic: Interpretation, Discourse, and Authenticity in Being and Time » Read Now
by Taylor Carman. 328 pgs.

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Unlike those who view Heidegger as an idealist, Taylor Carman asserts that Heidegger is best understood as a realist and offers a new interpretation of his major work, Being and Time. Among the book's distinctive features are an interpretation explicitly oriented within a Kantian framework (often...
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Unlike those who view Heidegger as an idealist, Taylor Carman asserts that Heidegger is best understood as a realist and offers a new interpretation of his major work, Being and Time. Among the book's distinctive features are an interpretation explicitly oriented within a Kantian framework (often taken for granted in readings of Heidegger) and an analysis of Dasein in relation to recent theories of intentionality; notably those of Dennett and Searle.
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5.

Kant and the Problem of Metaphysics » Read Now
by Martin Heidegger. 287 pgs.

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6.

Routledge Philosophy Guidebook to the Later Heidegger » Read Now
by George Pattison. 231 pgs.

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Martin Heidegger is one of the most controversial thinkers of the twentieth century. His writings are notoriously difficult: they both require and reward careful reading. The Later Heidegger introduces and accesses:* Heidegger's life and the background to his later works* The ideas and texts of...
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Martin Heidegger is one of the most controversial thinkers of the twentieth century. His writings are notoriously difficult: they both require and reward careful reading. The Later Heidegger introduces and accesses:* Heidegger's life and the background to his later works* The ideas and texts of some of his influential later works, including The Question concerning Technology, The Origin of the Work of Art , and What is Called Thinking? * Heidegger's continuing importance to philosophy and contemporary thought.
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7.

Heidegger's Philosophy of Being: A Critical Interpretation » Read Now
by Herman Philipse. 555 pgs.

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This scrupulously researched and rigorously argued book is the first to interpret and evaluate the central topic of Martin Heidegger's philosophy--his celebrated "Question of Being"--in the context of the full range of Heidegger's thought. With this comprehensive approach, Herman Philipse...
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This scrupulously researched and rigorously argued book is the first to interpret and evaluate the central topic of Martin Heidegger's philosophy--his celebrated "Question of Being"--in the context of the full range of Heidegger's thought. With this comprehensive approach, Herman Philipse distinguishes in unprecedented ways the center from the periphery, the essential from the incidental in Heidegger's philosophy. Among other achievements, this allows him to shed new light on the controversial relationship between Heidegger's life and thought--in particular the connections between his philosophy and his involvement with Nazism. Philipse begins by explaining which problems an interpretation of Heidegger's question of being should solve, and he specifies which type of interpretation is the best basis for an evaluation of Heidegger's thought. He then identifies various strands or leitmotifs in Heidegger's idea of being, and shows how these strands hang together in the philosopher's work. In doing so, Philipse offers new insights into Heidegger's views on such subjects as human existence, authenticity, logic, and language, and into his readings of such philosophers as Aristotle, Kant, Hegel, and Nietzsche. Philipse then integrates into his interpretation of Heidegger's overall theory the latest scholarship about the philosopher's engagement with Nazism. Finally, Philipse examines the fundamental structures of Heidegger's philosophy and assesses whether Heidegger's views are true, probable, or possess some other epistemic or existential value. As the most thorough interpretation of Heidegger's theory of being now available, this work represents a new phase in the vigorous debate about the philosopher's life and works.
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8.

Heidegger's Philosophy of Science » Read Now
by Trish Glazebrook. 278 pgs.

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9.

Heidegger: Through Phenomenology to Thought » Read Now
by William J. Richardson. 782 pgs.

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10.

Heidegger & the Political: Dystopias » Read Now
by Miguel De Beistegui. 200 pgs.

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Recent studies of Heidegger's involvement with National Socialism have often presented Heidegger's philosophy as a forerunner to his political involvement. This has occured often to the detriment of the highly complex nature of Heidegger's relation to the political. Heidegger and the Political...
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Recent studies of Heidegger's involvement with National Socialism have often presented Heidegger's philosophy as a forerunner to his political involvement. This has occured often to the detriment of the highly complex nature of Heidegger's relation to the political. Heidegger and the Political redresses this imbalance and is one of the first books to critically assess Heidegger's relation to politics and his conception of the political.Miguel de Beistegui shows how we must question why the political is so often displaced in Heidegger's writings rather than read the political into Heidegger. Exploring Heidegger's ontology where politics takes place after a forgetting of Being and his wish to think a site more originary and primordial than politics, Heidegger and the Political considers what some of Heidegger's key motifs - his emphasis on lost origins, his discussions of Holderlin's poetry, his writing on technology and the ancient Greek polis - may tell us about Heidegger's relation to the political. Miguel de Beistegui also engages with the very risks implicit in Heidegger's denial of the political and how this opens up the question of the risk of thinking itself. Heidegger and the Political is essential reading for students of philosophy and politics and all those interested in the question of the political today.
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11.

The Heidegger-Buber Controversy: The Status of the I-Thou » Read Now
by Haim Gordon. 172 pgs.

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12.

Husserl, Heidegger, and the Space of Meaning: Paths toward Transcendetnal Phenomenology » Read Now
by Steven Galt Crowell. 323 pgs.

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13.

Heidegger and Marcuse: The Catastrophe and Redemption of History » Read Now
by Andrew Feenberg. 158 pgs.

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This short book contrasts the philosophies of technology of Heidegger and Marcus, and relates their work to contemporary technology studies. Feenberg sets out the historical and theoretical background of the debate, then discusses each philosopher's theory in turn.
14.

Foucault and Heidegger: Critical Encounters » Read Now
by Alan Milchman, Alan Rosenberg. 368 pgs.

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Michel Foucault and Martin Heidegger are two of the most important intellectual figures of the twentieth century, and yet there are significant, largely unexplored questions about the relationship between their projects. Foucault and Heidegger stages a crucial critical encounter between these two...
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Michel Foucault and Martin Heidegger are two of the most important intellectual figures of the twentieth century, and yet there are significant, largely unexplored questions about the relationship between their projects. Foucault and Heidegger stages a crucial critical encounter between these two thinkers; in doing so, it clarifies not only the complexities of the Heidegger-Foucault relationship, but also their relevance to questions about truth and nihilism, acquiescence and resistance, and technology and agency that are central to debates in contemporary thought. These essays examine topics ranging from Heidegger's and Foucault's intellectual forebears to their respective understanding of the Enlightenment, modernity, and technology, to their conceptions of power and the political.
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15.

Four Phenomenological Philosophers: Husserl, Heidegger, Sartre, Merleau-Ponty » Read Now
by Christopher Macann. 228 pgs.

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Christopher Macann guides the student through the major texts of the four most prominent figures of the phenomenological tradition. Each chapter is devoted to one of these four thinkers:* Edmund Husserl, the founder of phenomenology, whose constantly-evolving ideas are presented by reviewing the...
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Christopher Macann guides the student through the major texts of the four most prominent figures of the phenomenological tradition. Each chapter is devoted to one of these four thinkers:* Edmund Husserl, the founder of phenomenology, whose constantly-evolving ideas are presented by reviewing the three crucial periods of his work.* Martin Heidegger, who broke decisively and controversially with his teacher, Husserl.* Jean-Paul Sartre, who transplanted the tradition from its origins in Germany to the streets of Paris. In Being and Nothingness , he set forth his own version of phenomenology.* Maurice Merleau-Ponty, a contemporary of Sartre, whose career was cut short by his early death. The Phenomenology of Perception was his best and most representative work. Four Phenomenological Philosophers , by presenting each thinker in the light of his most important texts, is the ideal introduction to this important philosophical tradition.
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