Post: #1

Jesus Christ I couldn't understand what this guy meant in "Being in Time". I'm 23 so I theorized that perhaps I'm too young to understand the guy or maybe I cannot think to that degree of abstraction.
Anyone else read his books or other Western philosophy? I'm obviously no longer in college and this is self-improvement reading on my part.

Post: #2

My understanding is that Being is something we do, "in the moment", a time where we acknowledge our existence of "being-there" and astonished at the very fact of being at all. We often forget that we are "being" while doing our daily tasks, and are thus "nothing" in the moment. "Being" is a state of reflection of one's own life, thinking, questioning, and contemplating the problems of life.

We "bring death into one's present". Meaning is derived from what is possible, and this is revealed to us by our anticipation of the "nothing" or "nothingness" that we are faced with.

Nietzsche's "Death of God" and the advancements of technology both influence Heidegger's thinking.

This video may help, (or confuse you more):

Post: #3

(02-11-2016 02:05 PM)johnbozzz Wrote:  Jesus Christ I couldn't understand what this guy meant in "Being in Time". I'm 23 so I theorized that perhaps I'm too young to understand the guy or maybe I cannot think to that degree of abstraction.
Anyone else read his books or other Western philosophy? I'm obviously no longer in college and this is self-improvement reading on my part.

The rule of thumb is to begin from the beginning. Start with the Greeks, then the Romans, then Augustine and Thomas Aquinas, then modern, and then post-modern.

So start with Plato (The Republic, the various shorter dialogues) and go from there. If you want specific recommendations on secondary sources that can help you understand Plato and others, let me know and I'll add names in this thread.

You will be lost if you read Heidegger out of the blue. And yes, many people don't fully grasp his ideas, myself included.