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Heidegger

Original nameMartin Heidegger

German Philosopher, Important Representative of Existentialism and Phenomenology

Those Who Reanswered "How Should We Live" · Modern & Contemporary Thinkers

ExistentialismPhenomenologyThe Theory of "Dasein"

Who they are

Martin Heidegger (1889–1976) was a German philosopher whose chief work Being and Time sought to raise anew and systematically answer a fundamental question he held long forgotten by the Western philosophical tradition since ancient Greece — what does "Being" itself really mean? By analyzing how the human being, that unique existent "Dasein" (literally "being-there"), unfolds its own existence in concrete temporality, in the situation of being thrown into the world, and in the "being-toward-death" awareness facing death, he sought to reveal anew the rich import of the question of "Being." His thought profoundly shaped Sartre’s existentialism, Gadamer’s hermeneutics, and even Derrida’s deconstruction. Yet during his brief tenure as rector of the University of Freiburg after the Nazis came to power in 1933 he publicly joined the Nazi party, and this historical stain, and his lifelong failure to reflect on and repent of it openly and thoroughly, is an important and long-fiercely-debated issue that cannot be avoided in assessing his philosophical legacy.

Primary sourcesHeidegger, Being and Time

Key stories

"Being-Toward-Death"

Heidegger held that the most authentic mode of existence of "Dasein" is to be soberly aware that death is one’s "ownmost, non-relational, not-to-be-outstripped" possibility; only by facing squarely this certainty that will surely come can one be awoken from the fallen state of drifting with the crowd and echoing others in daily life, and truly, authentically project one’s own life — this existential analysis of "being-toward-death" profoundly shaped the further elaboration of the theme of "freedom and responsibility" by existentialist philosophers such as Sartre.

An Unavoidable Historical Stain

During his tenure as rector of the University of Freiburg in 1933 Heidegger delivered an inaugural address publicly supporting the Nazi regime and briefly joined the Nazi party; though he resigned the rectorship the next year and his concrete relationship with the Nazi authorities thereafter grew more distant, he never in his life made an open, thorough apology or reflection on this history, and this stain means his philosophical legacy is still accompanied by the ongoing debate over "whether his existentialist thought has a deep connection to Nazi ideology."

Version differences

Heidegger’s public support for the Nazi regime in 1933 and his lifelong failure to make an open, thorough reflection on it is an important, long-debated issue in assessing his philosophical legacy.

Relationships

Mentor

⚡Nietzsche

Disciple

🚬Sartre　Sartre’s existentialist philosophy drew heavily on and responded to Heidegger’s existential analysis

Echoes today

Below are how modern works borrow or reinterpret this name or story — not the original material. The two differ, so keep them apart.

"Being-toward-death" (a common quotation)This concept is often quoted apart from its original philosophical context in discussing the popular life philosophy of "facing death to live better."

Appears in

The Twentieth Century: Existence, Deconstruction, and JusticeHeidegger Asks Anew About "Being"The Twentieth Century: Existence, Deconstruction, and JusticeSartre and Beauvoir: Existence Precedes Essence The Twentieth Century: Existence, Deconstruction, and JusticeFoucault’s Genealogy of Power, Derrida’s Deconstruction The Twentieth Century: Existence, Deconstruction, and JusticeArendt’s "Banality of Evil," Rawls’s Theory of Justice

⏳ Who lived at the same time as Heidegger? →🚬 Existentialism →🔗 Who taught whom →

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