This recording contains four important and related works by Heidegger: 'What Is Philosophy', 'What Is Metaphysics', 'On the Essence of Truth' and 'The Question of Being'.
It starts with 'What Is Philosophy', which originated as a lecture given in Normandy in 1955, and was first published a year later. The translators acknowledge that 'What Is Metaphysics' is often regarded as a particularly key work, they feel that 'a better preliminary understanding' of Heidegger can be obtained from 'What is Philosophy'. They write: Heidegger 'is concerned with the fact that philosophy has lost its receptivity to the Being of being/entity. In other words, philosophy no longer seeks the groundless ground of Being which allows us to ask meaningful questions about being/entity, or its appearances. Heidegger uses Being as the ‘inner light', that illumination through which we become conscious of our meaning or of our existence and of existence itself. The light allows us to know that we are 'beings'.
The second work on this recording, then, is the more famous essay 'What Is Metaphysics', published in 1929, to which some 14 years later he added a 'Postscript'. Both texts are presented here. Heidegger states that rather than enter into a discussion about metaphysics, he sets out to ‘discuss a definite metaphysical question.... Our project begins with the presentation of a metaphysical question, then goes on to its development and ends with its answer'.
In 'On the Essence of Truth', (1930) Heidegger explains: 'The question as to the nature of truth is not concerned with whether truth is the truth of practical experience or of economic calculation...or the truth of scientific research or art...or religious belief...but what is ‘the mark of 'truth' of every kind.'
The final essay on this recording is 'The Question of Being' (1955). Its original title, (in a literal translation from German), was 'Concerning the Line', and was included in a publication honouring the 60th birthday of the philosopher Ernst Jünger. Heidegger wrote it in the form of a letter in response to an earlier treatise Jünger dedicated to Heidegger called 'Across the Line'. Heidegger questions Jünger's notion of ‘zero line', of nihilism: the essence of nihilism stems from a discussion of Being as being/entity.
Translations by Jean T. Wilde and William Kluback ('What Is Philosophy' and 'The Question of Being') and R. F. C. Hull ('What Is Metaphysics' and 'On the Essence of Truth').
In 1929, Martin Heidegger (1889-1976) published his remarkable book Kant and the Problem of Metaphysics. The Kantbuch, as Heidegger often called it, is regarded by many as a vital supplement to the unfinished second part of Heidegger's most influential work, Being and Time, which was published two years earlier in 1927.
Kant and the Problem of Metaphysics is seen both as a landmark in the evolution of Heidegger's own thinking and as a notable contribution to Kantian scholarship, even though Heidegger would later modify his position considerably on some of the questions raised.
Its genesis is attributed to an encounter between Heidegger and Ernst Cassirer, the German philosopher trained in the Neo-Kantian Marburg school, a meeting which took place at the second Davos Hochschulkurs, or philosophy conference in Switzerland. The two men discussed and debated Kant's work in depth and the encounter led to Heidegger adapting his interpretation of Kant's ideas, focusing principally on the schematism of the categories.
While his phenomenological interpretation of the ideas expressed in the Critique of Pure Reason is at times tendentious and controversial, and did not convince Cassirer, the dialectical interplay the that can be gleaned between these three great minds is fascinating. From his phenomenological existential standpoint Heidegger analyses Kant's thinking and organises his work into four sections, subdivided into 45 subsections.
The first two sections consider the laying of the foundations of metaphysics and how this intellectual undertaking was carried out. The topics under consideration are mind-bendingly varied, and some are notoriously challenging and difficult to grasp.
They range from: the foundations of ontology to the elucidation of space and time as pure intuitions; ontological synthesis; the problems of categories and the role of transcendental logic; the transcendence of finite reasoning as the basic purpose of the transcendental deduction; and the importance of image, schema and schema-image, schematism and subsumption.
Section three focuses on the transcendental imagination as the formative centre of ontological knowledge and its relation to intuition and reason. It also considers the inherently temporal character of the transcendental imagination and the temporal character of the self.
Section four goes on to explore the foundations of metaphysics in philosophical anthropology, the problem of finitude in man and the metaphysics of Dasein as fundamental ontology, its goals and how the idea of fundamental ontology relates to the Critique of Pure Reason.
Kant and the Problem of Metaphysics is read with clarity and precision by Martyn Swain for Ukemi Audiobooks. Translation by James S. Churchill.
In his lucid introduction to this recording, Professor Taylor Carman declares unequivocally that Being and Time by Martin Heidegger (1889-1976) is ‘one of the great masterpieces of 20th century philosophy.' And that is despite the fact that it is unquestionably a challenging listen. But by placing it in its historical context - the key work on existentialism between Søren Kierkegaard (1813-1855) and Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980) - it becomes much easier to approach.
As Professor Carman explains, ‘Being and Time addresses a seemingly simple question: What does it mean to be?' As far as we know, human beings are the only existing things ‘with an understanding of what it is for something to exist' and, furthermore, are aware of their own existence. Heidegger chose the German word Dasein - existence: literally ‘being there' - instead of more common expressions such as man, human being, soul, consciousness, etc. And he embarks upon his investigation, considering ‘being there in-the-world, in time (past, present, future); discussing ‘authentic' and ‘inauthentic' living and dying; and the acceptance of impermanence. ‘Dasein's existence is pervaded by a primordial kind of anxiety (Angst)', Carman remarks, but points out that the concept of care is central to Heidegger's view: ‘to be a human being is to care about something'.
Being and Time was published in 1927 during the Weimar period in Germany, a time of political, social and economic turmoil. Heidegger himself did not escape the pressures, and his nationalism and undeniable anti-Semitism in the following decades cast a shadow over the man, but not the work. Being and Time is not coloured by expressions of his later views (unlike other writings) and remains an outstanding document.
This recording opens with Professor Carman reading his introduction. Being and Time is read by Martyn Swain.
Translation: John Macquarrie and Edward Robinson.
In his lucid introduction to this recording, Professor Taylor Carman declares unequivocally that Being and Time by Martin Heidegger (1889-1976) is ‘one of the great masterpieces of 20th century philosophy.' And that is despite the fact that it is unquestionably a challenging listen. But by placing it in its historical context - the key work on existentialism between Søren Kierkegaard (1813-1855) and Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980) - it becomes much easier to approach.
As Professor Carman explains, ‘Being and Time addresses a seemingly simple question: What does it mean to be?' As far as we know, human beings are the only existing things ‘with an understanding of what it is for something to exist' and, furthermore, are aware of their own existence. Heidegger chose the German word Dasein - existence: literally ‘being there' - instead of more common expressions such as man, human being, soul, consciousness, etc. And he embarks upon his investigation, considering ‘being there in-the-world, in time (past, present, future); discussing ‘authentic' and ‘inauthentic' living and dying; and the acceptance of impermanence. ‘Dasein's existence is pervaded by a primordial kind of anxiety (Angst)', Carman remarks, but points out that the concept of care is central to Heidegger's view: ‘to be a human being is to care about something'.
Being and Time was published in 1927 during the Weimar period in Germany, a time of political, social and economic turmoil. Heidegger himself did not escape the pressures, and his nationalism and undeniable anti-Semitism in the following decades cast a shadow over the man, but not the work. Being and Time is not coloured by expressions of his later views (unlike other writings) and remains an outstanding document.
This recording opens with Professor Carman reading his introduction. Being and Time is read by Martyn Swain.
Translation: John Macquarrie and Edward Robinson.
