Being and Time

Text · 8 readings

Heidegger’s early inquiry follows Dasein, equipment, others, care, temporality and historicity. Its claims remain open to philosophical and political criticism.

All readings

8 readings · Title A–Z

Heidegger: being, a shared world and its limits · Lesson 5 of 12
Anxiety and a life that can end
Heidegger distinguishes anxiety from fear and treats death as a possibility that bears on how a life is lived. The lesson compares the readings of Blattner and Hoffman, questions the priority given to anxiety and asks for no personal disclosure.
Heidegger: being, a shared world and its limits · Lesson 4 of 12
How a situation matters to us
For Heidegger, attunement is a way of finding oneself in a situation, and care unites being ahead of oneself, being already in a world and being involved with beings. The lesson separates what a mood discloses from what it proves, and care from kindness.
Heidegger: being, a shared world and its limits · Lesson 7 of 12
Living from a past toward a future
Heidegger finds the unity of care in temporality and moves from inherited possibilities to a people’s destiny. What does that move leave ethically unjustified?
Heidegger: being, a shared world and its limits · Lesson 3 of 12
Other people and the way one does things
Even work done alone can be shaped by being-with and by the everyday authority Heidegger calls the they. The lesson separates shared norms from conformity and asks how help can support or displace another person’s agency.
Heidegger: being, a shared world and its limits · Lesson 8 of 12
Philosophy under political judgment
Heidegger’s political commitments put his philosophy under judgment. The lesson separates established evidence from reported notebook passages, compares Di Cesare’s and Malpas’s readings and judges claims without exempting the work from its history.
Heidegger: being, a shared world and its limits · Lesson 2 of 12
The world in a familiar tool
A tool belongs with materials, a task and a way of living, and a broken or missing tool can reveal those connections. The lesson asks whether practical involvement comes before detached observation.
Heidegger: being, a shared world and its limits · Lesson 1 of 12
What are we asking when we ask about being?
Heidegger distinguishes beings from their being and begins with Dasein and its being-in-the-world. The lesson reconstructs his reasons and weighs an objection to the priority he claims.
Heidegger: being, a shared world and its limits · Lesson 6 of 12
What would it mean to own a life?
For Heidegger, taking over a life involves existential guilt, the call of conscience and resoluteness. The lesson separates owning a commitment from justifying it, and keeps room for dependence, assistance and correction.

Study this in sequence

Heidegger: being, a shared world and its limits
Begin with familiar encounters and follow Heidegger’s questions about being, a finite life, truth, art, dwelling and technology. Examine what the arguments explain, what they leave open and how they fare under political and ethical criticism.