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Who was Heidegger? Martin Heidegger described in plain language.
Martin Heidegger was a German philosopher who fundamentally influenced several philosophical disciplines and also several academic fields. He did so through the way he thought about being and about human existence, and through the methods and procedures he used while doing it. He is also a controversial figure in history.
I will answer the question of who Martin Heidegger was as someone who studied a newly established programme at Charles University in Prague, Philosophy in the Context of the Humanities. A large part of my studies there was about Martin Heidegger. I do not think anyone else was given more lectures and seminars there. I spent the most time on his two texts, Being and Time and On the Essence of Truth. His texts are covered there in detail, they are read very slowly, and for every sentence someone is called on to interpret it and to show that they have understood it in context. It was very demanding. Anyone who has not tried it will find it hard to understand how.
Now that we know who is answering, it is time to move on to the question. As the title of the article suggests, I will try to give the answer in plain language, understandable to anyone.
Who was Martin Heidegger? The simplest answer
The simplest answer would be this. Martin Heidegger was a German philosopher who had a fundamental impact not only on philosophy, but also on some academic fields. He did so through the way he thought about being and about existence, that is, about the being of the human being. The methods by which he did it, in Being and Time above all phenomenology. The language he used while doing it. The way he drew on languages that were so old that their words carry a far richer meaning than the one we assign to them today.
Why are the texts of Martin Heidegger hard to understand? How can they be understood correctly?
The language of his texts and his choice of words are one of the reasons, not the only one, why his texts are so hard to understand and why so much time had to be devoted to them in the seminars I described above. Another reason is often the insufficient preparation of the person who sets out to read Heidegger. I cannot imagine setting out to do it without having studied philosophy beforehand, and honestly, not without a guide through the thinking of Heidegger either. Without someone who has experience with him. The second option is to study the quality scholarly literature on the thinking of Heidegger in real depth. But for my part, going into reading Martin Heidegger on your own is certainly the worse option. The advantage of a good guide is that they will set you right when you understand something in the text of Heidegger superficially. When you read on your own, you can spend years mistaken about some basic matters, and read his other texts through that lens. I do not recommend it.
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Summary
Common questions on this article's topic
Who was Martin Heidegger?
What method did Martin Heidegger use?
Why are the texts of Heidegger so hard to understand?
How should Martin Heidegger be read?
Does artificial intelligence help with reading Heidegger?
Why is Martin Heidegger a controversial figure in history?
If you have any thoughts, questions, or feedback, feel free to drop me a message at mail@richardgolian.com.
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