Heidegger’s Map

Richard Rorty listsMartin Heidegger among the three greatest philosophers of the twentieth century, along with Ludwig Wittgenstein and John Dewey. Even those who would propose a very different list would agree that Heidegger has been among the most influential philosophers of the past century. His thought underlies later developments in Continental philosophy, from existentialism to postmodernism, and has influenced analytic philosophers such as Wilfrid Sellars, Rorty, and Robert Brandom. It has had an even more sweeping impact on developments in other parts of the humanities, which have abandoned traditional humanistic pursuits in favor of “theory” and embraced a kind of anti-intellectualism dressed in a garb of elaborate verbiage ultimately inspired by and derived from Heidegger. Finally, it has shaped our political discourse and culture, altering our conceptions of ideologies throughout the political spectrum. I will focus here on some concepts central to Being and Time (1927), Heidegger’s greatest and most influential work. They constitute important Acad. Quest. DOI 10.1007/s12129-014-9417-4