Being and Time
by Martin Heidegger
Synopsis
Heidegger reopens the ancient question of 'the meaning of Being' by analyzing the kind of being we ourselves are — Dasein. He argues that Dasein is fundamentally temporal, situated, and characterized by its mortality, and that authentic existence requires owning that mortality rather than fleeing it.
Editorial review
Heidegger's masterwork is one of the most influential and least casually-readable books of 20th century philosophy. Concepts like 'being-toward-death,' 'thrownness,' and 'authenticity' have shaped existentialism, hermeneutics, theology, and phenomenology — but you'll want a guide.
Key takeaways
- 1
We are not first 'minds' — we are first beings already involved in a world.
- 2
Mortality, properly faced, individuates and seriously orients a life.
- 3
Most everyday existence is 'fallen' into anonymous social patterns ('das Man').
- 4
Time is not a container we move through; it is the structure of our existence.
The right reader
Serious philosophy readers. Pair with a secondary text such as Hubert Dreyfus' lectures.
What it touches
How it reads
Demanding, technical, transformative.
Reading difficulty: Advanced
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