First Exposure

Last Thursday was my first exposure to Martin Heidegger. I had heard of Aristotle, Sartre and Nietzsche- all of whom worked in the realm of metaphysics- but not Heidegger. Generally, I like to know something of the people I read, so I did some digging around for biographical facts concerning the philosopher.

In 1889, Martin was born in Messkirch, Germany. His interest in philosophy was fostered in his youth, while he was preparing for the Catholic priesthood. In 1919, he parted with Catholicism and began lecturing on phenomenology at the University of Freiburg, where he met and married one of his students, Thea Elfride Petri.

Heidegger was elected rector of the university in 1933, and in the same year, he joined Adolf Hitler’s National Socialist German Workers’ (or "Nazi") Party. It was during World War II that he gave the lectures found in his Introduction to Metaphysics, which included "The Fundamental Question of Metaphysics."

After the war, he was barred from teaching in Germany, due to his association with the Nazis. For the rest of his life, he wrote books on the essence of being and criticized modern philosophy for losing sight of of the fundamental question: "Why are there essents rather than nothings?" He died in May 1976 and was buried in his hometown.

Hopefully, I have given the bloggers some biographical perspective that allows them to see the work and philosophy of Heidegger in another view, other than our 21^st century one, which often ignores historical context, and our evangelical Christian one, which often fails to wrestle with philosophers on their own terms.

Martin Heidegger (1889-1976)

Source(s) Used:  Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Center for Ethics and Entrepreneurship.

Commented on Jamie Kilpatrick's "Baffled."