# Martin Heidegger > **Martin Heidegger** (German: [ˈmaʁtiːn ˈhaɪdɛɡɐ]; 26 September 1889–26 May 1976) was a German philosopher known for contributions to phenomenology, hermeneutics, and existentialism. His work covers a range of topics including metaphysics, art, religion, and language. > > In April 1933, Heidegger was elected as rector at the University of Freiburg and has been widely criticized for his membership and support for the Nazi Party during his tenure. After World War II, he was dismissed from Freiburg and banned from teaching after denazification hearings at Freiburg. There has been controversy about the relationship between his philosophy and Nazism. > > In Heidegger's first major text, Being and Time (1927), Dasein is introduced as a term for the type of being that humans possess. Heidegger believed that Dasein already has a "pre-ontological" and concrete understanding that shapes how it lives, which he analyzed in terms of the unitary structure of "being-in-the-world". Heidegger used this analysis to approach the question of the meaning of being; that is, the question of how entities appear as the specific entities they are. In other words, Heidegger's governing "question of being" is concerned with what makes beings intelligible as beings. > > [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin%20Heidegger) ## Flashcards ### German Translations - In-der-Welt-sein:::Being-in-the-world - Sein-zum-Tode:::Being-towards-death - Mitsein:::Being-with - Dasein:::Being-there (or Existence) - Mitdasein:::Dasein-with - Bodenständigkeit:::Autochthony (or Rootedness) - Unverborgenheit:::Unconcealment (literally "un-hidden-ness") - Seinsvergessenheit:::Forgetfulness of Being - Zuhandenheit:::Readiness-to-hand (literally "to-hand-ness") - Vorhandenheit:::Presence-at-hand (literally "before-hand-ness") - Befindlichkeit:::State-of-mind (or Attunement; literally "how-one-finds-oneself-ness") - Das Man:::The They (literally "The One" or the impersonal "one") - Gestell:::Enframing (literally "The Stand" or "Rack") - Entschlossenheit:::Resoluteness (literally "Un-closed-ness") - Augenblick:::Moment of Vision (literally "Eye-glance") - Ent-fernung:::De-severance (or De-distancing; a play on "removing distance") - Gelassenheit:::Releasement (or Letting-be; literally "composedness" or "calmness") - Lichtung:::The Clearing (associated with "light," but refers to an open space in a forest) - Vorlaufen:::Anticipation (literally "running-ahead") ### Terms and Meaning - Being-in-the-world:::The fundamental, unitary structure of human existence; implies that we are always already involved in a context of meaning, rather than isolated subjects looking at an external world. - Being-towards-death:::The authentic mode of existing where one accepts mortality not as a distant event, but as a possibility that defines one's current life and individualizes the self. - Being-with:::The existential condition that Dasein is essentially social; we do not exist alone and then find others, but rather our world is shared from the start. - Dasein:::The specific type of being that humans are; an entity for whom its own being is an issue, characterized by its "thereness" or openness to the world. - Unconcealment:::Heidegger’s primal definition of Truth (Aletheia); the process by which entities emerge from hiddenness into intelligibility. - Forgetfulness of Being:::The historical condition where philosophy focuses only on things (beings) and ignores the question of what it means to be (Being itself). - Readiness-to-hand:::The mode of being for equipment (like a hammer) when it is being used competently; the object withdraws from notice and becomes an extension of the user's hand. - Presence-at-hand:::The mode of being for objects when they are merely looked at or theorized about (e.g., a broken hammer); the object stands apart from us as a static thing with properties. - State-of-mind:::Our affective "attunement" to the world (moods); it reveals how we "find ourselves" thrown into a situation before we cognitively analyze it. - The They:::The anonymous, average public norm that dictates how "one" should act, think, and feel, leading to inauthentic conformity. - Enframing:::The essence of modern technology; a way of revealing the world that forces nature to show up only as a "standing reserve" or resource to be exploited. - Resoluteness:::The authentic stance of Dasein; a silent willingness to project oneself onto one's ownmost possibilities and accept one's finitude (literally "un-closed-ness"). - Moment of Vision:::The authentic experience of time where the past and future are grasped together in the present situation, allowing for decisive action. - De-severance:::The existential act of bringing something "close" by concerning oneself with it, regardless of its physical, geometric distance. - Releasement:::A non-willing, meditative mode of thinking that allows things to reveal themselves without forcing them into a conceptual framework. - The Clearing:::The open "space" of intelligibility (or meaning) in which beings can appear or be encountered by Dasein. - Anticipation:::Authentically running ahead in thought toward one's own death, which shatters the illusion of the "They" and allows one to seize their own life.