The “Being and Time” Book by Martin Heidegger Report

Being and Time is an interesting philosophical book written by Martin Heidegger, a 20^th-century German philosopher. In the book, Heidegger tries to respond to the basic motion of the meaning of “Being” and analyse the primal structure of existance by appealing to the daily experience of the audience. He uses a systematic analysis of human existence and structures. The book greatly influenced the production of other philosophical books and was extensively used by scholars and students as an alternative to behaviorism and structuralism. According to the author, people place the wrong focus on philosophy because it disregards the people’s everyday experiences in support of abstract reasoning (Heidegger 19). Heidegger believes that this should change, and philosophy should be based typically on the ordinary affairs of humans, such as social interactions, moods, and work. It will inspire human beings’ better understanding of the universe and revolutionize philosophy. The author aimed at authenticating the audience to think differently about human life and re-evaluate a concern that the philosophical tradition has always overlooked: that of “Being.”

Basic Knowledge

Martin Heidegger begins the book Being and Time with a quote from Plato. The quote goes, “For manifestly you have long been aware of what you mean when you use the expression ‘being.’ We, however, who used to think we understood it, have now become perplexed (Heidegger 3).” The quote informs the purpose and direction of the entire book (Heidegger 3). This quote reawakens people’s interest in the meaning and question of “Being,” which many people forget is essential. The quote informs the belief that we need to discover certain truths concerning knowledge and that knowledge is possible. From the book, we learn and advance our theoretical knowledge by following the three sufficient and necessary conditions for acquiring knowledge: believing in what we learn, learning what is true, and learning what is supported by good reasons. Therefore, we must be justified in believing for us to acquire knowledge. We also learn that knowledge is not limited to rational prepositions, and people can still understand better when they lack thematization (Heidegger 25). We also learn from the book that people have no clear knowledge of their presuppositions, and they seem unconvincing when we formulate them.

Metaphor and Argument

The main question in this book is “what is the meaning of “Being?” this question of the meaning of “Being” emphasizes the things that make human beings intelligent as they are, Beings. This question intends to ascertain the initial conditions for the ability of sciences to analyze human beings as different types to enable people to understand their fellow human beings. The question also aims at ascertaining the potentiality of ontologies (Heidegger 61). Ontologies that have not clarified the meaning of being are considered perverted and blind, no matter the systems of categories at their disposal. To answer the question of the meaning of being, the author points out the notion of Dasein. Heidegger uses Dasein to label the mode of realizing human beings as Beings.

Relevance

From the book Being and Time by Martin Heidegger, we learn how human beings suffer many illnesses of the soul. Human beings always forget to notice they are alive. In other words, humans fail to acknowledge they exist; a situation referred to as Dasein by Martin Heidegger. Human beings go through many experiences without knowing they are the conscious beings undergoing the same (Heidegger 114). In effect, human beings view situations as bystanders without knowing they should control all occurrences. People sleep, eat, and work without knowing they are consciously thinking and forget all these experiences in a short while. We also learn from the book that human being occasionally realizes their Dasein. However, such realization is rare and humans only acknowledge who they are when they are alone in the countryside. It is when they are alone that they start realizing why things exist and ask numerous questions. These questions help human beings acknowledge how lucky they are to be alive. Acknowledging how lucky we are, we develop communication skills as we seek harmony with the environment.

Work Cited

Heidegger, Martin. Being and Tme. Suny Press, 2010.