Heidegger’s theme from beginning to end was “Being”. Why is there something rather than nothing, and what is existence anyway? In practice, it was the second question that dominated his life. He started out in phenomenology, so he was initially interested in being as appearance. We get this idea of existence from somewhere, but where exactly? How does it emerge from appearance? Another theme was the forgetting of Being in favor of beings. The modern mind, with its busyness and technological power, is usually engaged in interaction with one particular thing or another particular thing, and loses sight of the fact of existence as such. This theme led him to a historical examination of the concept of Being in different ages. A distinction between existence and essence—thatness and whatness—develops in Greek philosophy, and persists through the centuries despite many transformations, such as the emphasis on subjectivity and consciousness which characterizes the epistemology-dominated era since Descartes. By the end of his life, Heidegger considered that technology and especially “cybernetics” (computer science and information technology) were the start of a whole new epoch in humanity’s relationship to Being; initially one in which the obliviousness to Being itself would persist—the metaphysical oblivion created by the focus on essence having been joined by a daily sensibility which was all about action rather than thought—but also a circumstance in which there could be a “second beginning”, in which Being might be encountered anew again.
So Heidegger deserves his place in the history of philosophy, and he’s not obsolete yet, even if so much about him and his work belongs to a vanished culture and politics.
By the end of his life, Heidegger considered that technology and especially “cybernetics” (computer science and information technology) were the start of a whole new epoch in humanity’s relationship to Being;
If I recall he convinced his son to become a computer scientist on these grounds.
Heidegger’s theme from beginning to end was “Being”. Why is there something rather than nothing, and what is existence anyway? In practice, it was the second question that dominated his life. He started out in phenomenology, so he was initially interested in being as appearance. We get this idea of existence from somewhere, but where exactly? How does it emerge from appearance? Another theme was the forgetting of Being in favor of beings. The modern mind, with its busyness and technological power, is usually engaged in interaction with one particular thing or another particular thing, and loses sight of the fact of existence as such. This theme led him to a historical examination of the concept of Being in different ages. A distinction between existence and essence—thatness and whatness—develops in Greek philosophy, and persists through the centuries despite many transformations, such as the emphasis on subjectivity and consciousness which characterizes the epistemology-dominated era since Descartes. By the end of his life, Heidegger considered that technology and especially “cybernetics” (computer science and information technology) were the start of a whole new epoch in humanity’s relationship to Being; initially one in which the obliviousness to Being itself would persist—the metaphysical oblivion created by the focus on essence having been joined by a daily sensibility which was all about action rather than thought—but also a circumstance in which there could be a “second beginning”, in which Being might be encountered anew again.
So Heidegger deserves his place in the history of philosophy, and he’s not obsolete yet, even if so much about him and his work belongs to a vanished culture and politics.
If I recall he convinced his son to become a computer scientist on these grounds.