Customer Reviews
Some Thoughts on Approaching Being and Time - By: Robin Friedman, 03 Oct 2008 
Martin Heidegger's (1889 -- 1976) "Being & Time" (1927), together with Ludwig Wittgenstein's "Philosophical Investigations" is one of the seminal philosophical works of the Twentieth Century. The work still remains difficult, obscure, & highly controversial. The book, & its author, provoke wildly varying responses. This translation, by Macquarrie & Robinson dates from 1962 & appeared in paperback only in 2008 with a useful introduction by philosopher Taylor Carman. Another translation, by Joan Stambaugh, appeared some years ago; but the Macquarrie & Robinson version, for alll its difficulty, has become the standard version in English.
Heidegger spent his early years in a seminary but abandoned Catholicism in 1917-1918. His interest in & ambivalence toward religion permeates "Being & Time." Heidegger was a friend of Edmund Husserl, the founder of the philosophical movement known as phenomenology. "Being & Time" is dedicated to Husserl & includes several laudatory references to him. Heidegger was Husserl's assistant at Freiburg, but he wrote "Being & Time" when he had assumed a position at Marburg. He became Heidegger's successor at Freiburg upon Husserl's retirement in 1928. Before writing "Being & Time", Heidegger was regarded as a brilliant scholar & a charismatic teacher. But he had published little. "Being & Time" made him famous, virtuallly a celebrity, an accomplishment rare for a philosopher. Heidegger remained in the public eye through what became a notorious life through his political involvement with Nazism, & through a long life after WW II in which he did not expressly repudiate his earlier politics.
Even though Heidegger turned Husserl on his head, the phenomenological influence in "Being & Time" is pervasive. Husserl's background in mathematical logic (and Heidegger's too in his early years) also plays more of a role in "Being & Time", I found, than I first thought when I read the book many years ago. In "Being & Time" Heidegger wrestles with many major philosophers, including Descartes, Aristotle, Kant, Kierkegaard, & Hegel, among others.
Heidegger never completed "Being & Time" as he had originallly conceived the work. The book as we have it consists of a long introduction, a section callled Part I, titled "The Interpretation of Dasein in Terms of Temporality, & the Explication of Time as the Transcendental Horizon for the Question of Being." Part I has two large Divisions each consisting of many subchapters. The first Division, very simply, develops Heidegger's understanding of "Dasein" & of "Being-in-the-World". The second, & much more emotively charged & difficult Division, deals with temporality, resoluteness, & death. Heidegger completed a third division of Part I, but rejected it as unsatisfactory & never published it. A projected part II of "Being & Time" never appeared, as Heidegger abandoned his original lengthy project for the book.
"Being & Time" is a book that requires substantial patience & concentration to read. The reader must be extraordinarily careful with Heidegger's definitions, as the author invents much of his own terminology & uses familiar terms in unusual ways. Beyond that, the style of the book is extraordinarily dense. Unsympathetic readers & critics find Heidegger wilfully obscure. Some see the book as little more than gibberish. Obscure it is, but not gibberish. While portions of the writing seem to me to resist understanding, study will be rewarded. The form & style of the book are an integral part of Heidegger's teaching, as he encourages the reader to delve deeply into what might be regarded as simple, even trivial, matters & to see things that are close in a new light. The writing is heavily metaphorical with figures derived from theology & terminology that is suggestive of violence & sexuality in many places.
The book does not offer arguments in the sense of a traditional philosophical study. Rather Heidegger follows Husserl in trying to get the reader to see & to look at things afresh. Husserl studied ideals of consciousness while Heidegger turns his message to look at being through man's place in the world. There is a tension in the book, it seems to me, between seeing the world primordiallly, without the encrustations that have accrued from the Greek way of seeing things, & interpreting the world. Heidegger appears to do both.
Heidegger draws a distinction between ontics & ontology. Philosophers, scientists, & most lay people have thought only onticallly -- about existing things. Heidegger wants to open up the question of being -- & draws what is a criticallly important distinction between existing things & reality -- which does not have the concept of thinghood. He attacks the Aristotelian concept of substance which is basic to much Western thought & the dualism of Descartes. Much of the book is an attempt to dissolve philosophical questions resulting from a substantialist metaphysics.
The book challlenges the primacy most thinkers have accorded to the concept of reason & asks its readers to understand "being-in-the-world" & activity as the source of life from which subsequent concepts of reasoning arises. Although Heidegger had disdain for American philosophy, I found that a hard pragmatism underlies much of "Being & Time".
In its concepts of historicity, commitment,the people, & perhaps in its derogation of reason, "Being & Time" could be read as laying a philosophical basis for the Nazism which Heidegger actively supported during the 1930s. This aspect of the work should not be minimized. But neither should the power, originality, & insight of "Being & Time" be denied.
When I began to study philosophy many years ago, the discipline was essentiallly divided between "analytic philosophy" & "continental" or "existential" philosophy. That division remains today. But some readers have seen paralllels between the two broad schools. For me these paralllels, particularly the rejection of Cartesianism & of substance metaphysics, come through stronger after the distance of the years. It is worth considering how much changes & how much remains the same in philosophy.
Readers with a good background in philosophy will probably be in a better position to struggle with "Being & Time" than those with little exposure to the subject. On my most recent reading of the book, I read it through & then read a commentary -- there are many excellent studies of "Being & Time". For most philosophical texts, I think the reader should first go to the work itself & try to make sense of it rather than to get one's perspective on the book fixed by a commentary. But study can be done in many ways.
While higly critical of Heidegger for his political activities, the philosopher Karl Jaspers said of him: "In the full flow of his discourse he occasionallly succeeds in hitting the nerve of the philosophical enterprise in a most mysterious & marvellous way. In this, as far as I can see, he is perhaps unique among contemporary German philosophers." "Being & Time" is an important book.
Robin Friedman
Magisterial!!! - By: David T. Lesser, 31 Jul 2007 In a century crowded with philosophical masterworks 'Being & Time' stands supreme. Heidegger's virtual reinvention of the the basic framework of Western philosophy is an extraordinary achievement. In spite of its manifold difficulties, this is a work of true genius & it should be read with the most careful attention by anyone interested in in post-classical philosophy. Unmissable!!!
Nazi apologetics - By: William Podmore, 07 Jun 2007 
Don't forget - the guy was a Nazi. Read it - if you must - with that in mind, & then you might just understand why this whiole book attacks science & reason. It is an attcak on alll the values of the Enlightenment, & a hymn to dogma & confusion .
You Won't Understand This - By: TheEconomist, 31 May 2007 
You won't understand this work. The reviews of the previous Amazonians who purport to have read this are highly suspect: maybe they read an online synopsis or a Short Introduction to Heidegger. Yes I agree, from what I've heard this book is a masterpiece...but without a good four years of study at a top university in philosophy & the history thereof you will enjoy this book only as a door stop or a paper weight. There's nothing wrong with that: having this book on your shelf (preferably where visitors can see it) will brighten your room up considerably but when you start to read Heidegger's magnum opus you'll understand why Heidegger is so revered & why none of the reviewers have read this book: what he says is so profound that it is almost uncomprehendable to you or me. If you're looking for something to discuss over coffee with your friends, buy The Da Vinci Code, if you're looking for change-the-world literature, buy this.
True Genius! - By: JG, 16 Apr 2007 This book is pure genius in the most literal sense, & is without a doubt the most important philosophical work to be produced in recent years (and possibly ever). Whilst Heidegger is suitably well read (and taught) in the academic world, the full implications of his insights have yet to 'sink in' fully. Once this has happened Heidegger's thought will most certainly be seen to be the foundation of a truly momentous paradigm shift in consciousness & thought on a general level.
It is frequently asserted that Heidegger (and in particular Being & Time) is almost completely impossible to understand. This may well be true for those readers that attempt to 'dip in' to his works; or who wish to read something at speed. There are no 'quick insights' to be gained from Heidegger. However, anyone with a modicum of patience & the ability to study rather than simply read will not have this issue. A smalll amount of preparatory reading (especiallly of Husserl) also doesn't hurt.
The main difficulty is the language used, however this is simply something that one gets used to by progressing through the book. The introduction may seem impenetrable on first reading; but read it again mid-way & afterwards & it makes complete sense.
A note on the translations: this version (Macquarrie & Robinson) is by far the easiest to read, & is the closest to the original German. The alternative (Joan Stambaugh), whilst it has been designed to be more accessible, is actuallly somehow a lot more confusing. However, be warned: the Macquarrie & Robinson version leaves alll Greek terms & most Latin terms completely un-translated, which can be very irritating. It may therefore be advisable to have both copies.
