How to Read Heidegger

Martin Heidegger is perhaps the most influential, yet least readily understood, philosopher of the last century. Mark Wrathall unpacks Heideggers dense prose and guides the reader through Heideggers early concern with the nature of human existence, to his later preoccupation with the threat that technology poses to our ability to live worthwhile lives.

Wrathall pays particular attention to Heideggers revolutionary analysis of human existence as inextricably shaped by a shared world. This leads to an exploration of Heideggers views on the banality of public life and the possibility of authentic anticipation of death as a response to that banality. Wrathall reviews Heideggers scandalous involvement with National Socialism, situating it in the context of Heideggers views about the movement of world history. He also explains Heideggers important accounts of truth, art, and language.

Extracts are taken from Heideggers magnum opus, Being and Time, as well as a variety of his best-known essays and lectures.