I just completed the philosophical works of Martin Heidegger “Being and Time”. Of course, I would have loved to read the German version it was originally written in, but then again that is just a wish list as my knowledge of languages is limited to just a couple, German not being one of them.
I ignored the personal facts I read about Heidegger, that he was a Nazi being one of them. My focus is often on the message and what I can take from it rather than the person. In fact, most people who pushed the boundaries of anything were (are) quirky in some way. I think quirkiness is a core concept in order to have different or varying perspectives on some subject.
It’s weird if you’re not weird
— John Lennon
In fact, his works were unfinished and were published posthumously after he died. And I got a read a translation of Heidegger: A Very Short Introduction by Michael Inwood. That got me thinking, most books introduce “lost in translation” anyway. Even if the author wrote in a language that one could directly read, there is a gap between was is conveyed and what is received by the reader. In this case, there is more of it as what I actually read was an interpreted version by another person who converted Heidegger’s works into English.
I could relate to the concepts of “Being” and “Time” that are being talked about in the work and am now more empathetic to phenomenological constructs than a Cartesian approach that is extremely cognitive oriented. I prefer to move away from that kind of left-brain thinking. The basic question the book addresses is whether we are cognitive animals, emotional animals, or an integrated “being” with a bit of both working together with an impossibility to separate.
After reading this book, I am more aligned to the phenomenology of an integrated singular self-being the “being” rather than the mind-body dualism way of thinking.
I shall close with a quote that I derived from my musings on this subject.
If we are human beings, what is it to being human?
.
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References:
Heidegger: A Very Short Introduction, 2nd edition Written by Michael Inwood https://www.scribd.com/audiobook/507216459/Heidegger-A-Very-Short-Introduction-2nd-edition
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Being_and_Time
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Heidegger
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phenomenology_(philosophy)