Way they show themselves to consciousness. In Being and Time (1927), Heidegger describes the phenomenon 'that which shows itself in itself,' which is to say, it is 'the manifest.' Appearance reveals reality or how things are, but it can also be illusory. Heidegger aimed to interpret being by introducing new terms and refashioning language.

The intentional nature of consciousness focuses interpretation on one aspect of being, as it closes off other aspects.Īnother way to think about this approach is that, for Heidegger, the history of philosophical inquiry is a history of language: our words reveal and shape the world for us.

Heideggerīelieved that all phenomenological investigations about being are interpretive. What does it mean to exist within the structure of language, time, and as a person that is part of the world? He framed questions about consciousness in terms of what it means to be in the world.įor Heidegger, phenomenological investigation about being was always hermeneutical, meaning these philosophers applied the theories and methods used to study and interpret texts, starting with biblical interpretation, to the study of meaning. Heidegger applied the phenomenologicalĪpproach to questions of being. The phenomenological method involves asking questions related to a first-person perspective.

Heidegger was also inspired by the Socratics, the Greek philosophers who predated Socrates, Søren Kierkegaard, and Friedrich Nietzsche.īrentano and Husserl were both phenomenologists, the philosophical study of how objects and ideas appear to the consciousness. Work influenced Husserl, and Husserl mentored Heidegger, who worked as his assistant. The German philosophers Franz Brentano (1838–1917) and Edmund Husserl (1859–1938) deeply affected his early thinking. The German thinker Martin Heidegger (1889–1976) turned his attention to philosophy after initially studying for the priesthood. How did Heidegger employ hermeneutics in his work?.How did the phenomenological method influence Heidegger's work?.Describe how key developments in Martin Heidegger's early years influenced his philosophical thinking

Being in time heidegger