Martin Heidegger (1889–1976) was a German existential philosopher who explored the nature of human existence. He is widely considered the most original 20th-century philosopher. Modern interpretations of his philosophy associate him with existentialism (despite his refutation of such interpretations) and, controversially, with National Socialist (Nazi) principles.
Born in Meßkirch, Baden-Württemberg to a Catholic verger, Heidegger joined the Jesuits as a novitiate. He went on to teach philosophy at Freiburg, where he wrote a dissertation on the Franciscan philosopher-theologian Duns Scotus.
Heidegger was Professor of Philosophy at Marburg 1923–28 and then succeeded Edmund Husserl as Professor of Philosophy at Freiburg 1929–45. When he was appointed Rector in 1933, he professed his support for Hitler in an infamous inaugural address. In 1945, the Allied rulers of Germany discharged Heidegger from his position for his support of the Nazis, but he continued to be a significant teacher and lecturer.
Heidegger succeeded Husserl as a principal figure in the phenomenological movement, but was also much influenced by Søren Kierkegaard, and, though he disclaimed the label of ‘existentialist,’ he was a key influence on Jean-Paul Sartre through Heidegger’s writings on the nature and predicament of human existence, the pursuit of ‘authenticity’ and the distractions of Angst (dread.)
Heidegger’s foremost work is the original but nearly unreadable Sein und Zeit (1927; Being and Time,) which presents an comprehensive ontological classification of ‘Being’ and an examination of the distinctively human mode of existence (Dasein) characterized by participation and involvement in the world of objects, an awareness of the future, the necessity of choice, and the ultimate reality of death.
In another work, Was ist Metaphysik? (1929; Existence and Being, 1949,) Heidegger attacked logic for its inability to cope with nothingness and the totality of existence.
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Every man is born as many men and dies as a single one.
—Martin Heidegger
Topics: Death, Dying
The most thought-provoking thing in our thought-provoking time is that we are still not thinking.
—Martin Heidegger
Topics: Thinking
Thinking begins only when we have come to know that reason, glorified for centuries, is the stiff-necked adversary of thought.
—Martin Heidegger
Topics: Thinking
Man acts as though he were the shaper and master of language, while in fact language remains the master of man.
—Martin Heidegger
Topics: Language
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