Heidegger - A Very Short Introduction

He was (with the possible exception of Wittgenstein) the greatest
philosopher of the twentieth century. He was (with the possible
exception of Hegel) the greatest charlatan ever to claim the title of
‘philosopher’, a master of hollow verbiage masquerading as profundity.
He was an irredeemable German redneck, and, for a time, a gullible
and self-important Nazi. He was a pungent, if inevitably covert, critic of
Nazism, a discerning analyst of the ills of our age and our best hope of
a cure for them. Each of these claims has been advanced, with greater
or lesser plausibility, on Heidegger’s behalf. Who was the man who
provokes these contrasting reactions?

List of Illustrations ix
References xi
1 Heidegger’s Life 1
2 Heidegger’s Philosophy 9
3 Being 13
4 Dasein 20
5 The World 31
6 Language, Truth, and Care 47
7 Time, Death, and Conscience 64
8 Temporality, Transcendence, and Freedom 87
9 History and World-Time 98
10 Art 116
11 St Martin of Messkirch? 129
Further Reading 135
Glossary 137
Index 143