Heidegger's Being and Time
Philosophy 745
Professor William Blattner
Department of Philosophy
Office: 240 New North
Phone: (202) 687-4528
Updated for Fall, 2008.
Philosophy 745
Professor William Blattner
Department of Philosophy
Office: 240 New North
Phone: (202) 687-4528
Updated for Fall, 2008.
Gadamer described the effect of the publication in 1927 of Martin Heidegger’s Being and Time: "it fell like a bombshell upon Europe." Being and Time is indeed one of the most influential contributions to philosophy of the 20th century. It has earned Heidegger a leading status within 20th century philosophy, along with Husserl, Wittgenstein, James, Dewey, and a few others. In this course we will proceed systematically through Being and Time, seeking to understand Heidegger's basic moves, his motivations, and the implications of his views for our philosophical concerns.
Because both the text is so difficult and this seminar will proceed at a graduate level, we will not be able to work through the entire text. In fact, I am planning only to deal with Division I of Being and Time. Division I presents Heidegger's attempt to overturn the subjectivistic tradition in modern philosophy and reconceive human life as "being-in-the-world." Although we will discuss Heidegger's general conception of ontology – the first chapter of the introduction to B&T is about ontology – we will focus on his proposed revision of the ontology of "Dasein," aka, human beings, and its philosophical implications. According to his account, a fundamental "familiarity with the world" is more basic than cognition or knowledge. We understand the world primarily through our skills and abilities for going about our business in the world, rather than through a stock of knowledge or an implicit "theory" of the world. Division I of Being and Time develops this vision and explores some of its implications for traditional philosophical problems, such as skepticism, the nature of truth, realism/idealism, and the relation between common sense and science.
You will write a single research paper (20 pp. or so) on a topic of your choosing (with my approval, of course).
In order to enroll in this course, you must be a grad student in the Philosophy Dept. or have my approval.
I will permit senior undergraduate philosophy majors who qualify for the Honors Program (whether they are actually doing it or not) to enrol in the course as well.
I will manage the day-to-day operation of the course through Blackboard.
Required:
- Heidegger. Being and Time. Trans. Macquarrie & Robinson. Harper & Row.
Blattner. Heidegger's "Being and Time:" A Reader's Guide. Continuum.
– This is my basic introduction to the themes and arguments of Being and Time. I will ask you to read the relevant bits of this guide as we go along, so that we can assume it for discussion (obviating the need for an introductory lecture during the seminar sessions).
Recommended:
Heidegger. Basic Problems of Phenomenology. Trans. Hoftstadter. Indiana.
– This is a lecture course that Heidegger gave shortly after publishing Being and Time. It covers some of the same issues as Being and Time, as well as many others besides. I will incorporate optional readings from Basic Problems into the schedule of readings.
- Dreyfus. Being-in-the-World. MIT.
– A lucid commentary on the text of Being and Time, which addresses topics that are of interest to contemporary mainstream philosophical debate.
- Guignon, ed. Cambridge Companion to Heidegger, 2d ed. Cambridge.
– This is a collection of essays on thematic topics (e.g., Heidegger and religion, Heidegger's anti-cognitivism, etc.). Its essays tend to be accessible and are uniformly of a high quality.
- Safranski. Martin Heidegger: Between Good and Evil. Harvard.
– The best current intellectual biography of Heidegger.