Being and Time: A Revised Edition of the Stambaugh Translation (SUNY series in Contemporary Continental Philosophy)

It is difficult to think of a modern philosopher who wrote as profoundly and originally as Heidegger. In my view Heidegger is the greatest philosopher since Kant, although Nietsche-ites and Wittgenstinians would no doubt disagree. "Being and Time", as anyone who knows anything about philosophy should know, is his magnum opus. He wrote many other works in his long career (mostly lecture transcriptions), but they can all without exception be traced back to concepts originally set out in Being and Time. Despite that and rather strangley, Being and Time is not the place to start a study of Heidegger. His writing is so idiosyncratic that you really must get used to his language first before diving in to this huge work - otherwise you are likely to give up within the first 100 pages, which is unforgiveable. Start instead with the useful "Introducing Heidegger" (ISBN: 1840460881) or the well-written "Heidegger: a beginner's guide" (ISBN: 034080324X). Then progress to the excellent collection of Heidegger's writings in "Basic Writings" (ISBN: 0415101611). Only then would I recommend diving into Being and Time. So what is the significance of Being and Time? To me, its importance lies in its questioning of the premises which the rest of philosophy since Plato has taken for granted. What is the nature of human existence? What does it mean to 'be'? But not only does Heidegger ask these questions, but he provides highly original answers too. And bizarrely - although his language is abstruse and difficult - what he has to say fits remarkably well with common sense. We do not exist as isolated, abstract 'individuals' prior to our introduction to society. Instead we exist as beings situated in a societal context, with hopes, aspirations, regrets and relationships with other people and things. Over the course of 250 or so dense pages, Heidegger systematically deconstructs (yes, he invited deconstruction long before Derrida) the concept of what it is to be an individual that has lain beneath 2000 years of philosophizing, including Descarte's 'cogito ergo sum' principle which provided the foundation for Enlightenment ontology. Then, in the last 150 pages he moves on to the concept of time, again demolishing accepted views in order to gain a more 'primordial' understanding of what it means to be a human being living through a series of 'Moments'. As the blurb to this book says, Being and Time has had a huge influence on fields well beyond philosophy. In particular, his ideas about what it means to live 'authentically' have provided rich pickings for psychology. Discerning readers will also notice resonances with some Eastern philosophical traditions (Taoism and Buddhism in particular), and this particularly interesting line of analysis has been pursued in a number of recent books (see ISBN: 1565181190 and ISBN: 0415140382). In summary - make time for this towering work. You are unlikely to ever read a more profound piece of extended philosophical writing.

The most profound exploration of 'Dasein' you could possibly read. As a lifelong existentialist I have come late to this book , but am so glad to have found it aged 65. Patient reading is required , and rewarded by understanding and elation. I am on my third or fourth reading now and it gets easier to absorb every time.

This book is filled with ideas that are complex and slightly difficult to read, so if you plan to read it in one evening then you may be slightly disappointed. Unless you're Stephen Hawking. Stephen Hawking could do it.

Martin Heidegger is well known for being both controversial and complex, and his magnum opus, Being and Time, is widely recognised as being one of the most difficult philosophical texts to read. Now, I don’t know if I`m missing the point or its complexity has just washed straight over me, but I found that this translation was nowhere near as difficult to read as I had been led to expect. Although Heideggerian concepts are entirely unfamiliar to anyone who has not read his work before, I don’t think he does a bad job of explaining himself -even if only in the most basic way- and the glossary of Heideggerian lexicon at the back of this addition comes in handy. I will say that having read many works by the Spanish philosopher Jose Ortega y Gasset (who is often compared with Heidegger) may have familiarized me with some of the main concepts in Heideggerian philosophy, so I`d recommend that anyone looking at Heidegger takes the time to read Ortega as well. It also goes without saying that having an introductory text to Heidegger (there are some free ones for anyone subscribed to Amazon Prime) close by will certainly come in useful. Overall, however, I don’t think that understanding Heidegger`s philosophy is any more difficult than getting to know any other discipline or subject one has no prior familiarity with and, despite the controversy that surrounds him, I think his philosophy has a lot to offer us in the present. In addition to being a good translation, the cover is lovely (even though I can’t read the poem) and the overall presentation and quality of the book are good. Highly recommendable in my opinion.

The approach in this translation of a notoriously difficult and transcendental book is all round top tier. A lengthy introduction and notes on specific German words work as partial tuition to Heideggers profound philosophy. Aesthetically the volume is pleasing to the eye, glossy, eye catching and a unique size, suitable for posing in coffee shops to impress any naive prospective love interest.

Heidegger's thought is encountered more and more nowadays, making the need for this translation greater. The Maquarrie & Robinson one was the standard work for years, but as a non German speaker I find this significantly easier to get through. So does my tutor!

I have to admit I struggled with this one. I'm researching teh topic of Nihilism for a novel I'm working on, and the meaning of Being is a fantastic kicking off point, but unless you're a serious philosophy scholar (I'm casual at best) it may be worth researching around the original text, because Heidegger is a long way from being accessible. There were points here where I felt like my brain was eating itself and that my own Being was in some danger. So anyway, I ended up pulling 'The Philosophy of Heidegger' by Michael Watts out of the British Library, and that gave me exactly what I needed, and that or similar may be the easier option for the faint of heart such as myself.

Like all Heidegger's works, difficult but repays effort. Proves, somewhat disturbingly (?), that you can be a (sort-o) Nazi and yet also a great philosopher at the same time.

wonderful to be able to access in ebook format

There is nothing to dislike. It's an amazing book

Awesome read

Certainly, there is substantial variation in motivation of readers to read Being and Time (1927) by Martin Heidegger. This variation can range from the lowly motivated, "Guess it might be nice to understand Heidegger,"to the highly motivated, "I must understand Heidegger, at all cost." Readers can also vary in their expertise in philosophy from those who are general readers to graduate students and professors of philosophy. I count myself among the latter spectrum, i.e., the highly motivated, although I'm not a professor of philosophy nor was I a graduate student in philosophy. Insofar as one is sufficiently primed to read Being and Time, this translation by Joan Stambaugh and Dennis J. Schmidt makes Heidegger especially accessible. My first attempt to read Being and Time ended in frustration and failure. So I obtained several seemingly more comprehensible books: "Introduction to Metaphysics," by Martin Heidegger (English version, 2000, Yale University Press); "Being-in-the-World," by Hubert L. Dreyfus (1991, MIT Press); and "Heidegger Explained," by Graham Harman (2007, Carus Publishing, Open Court). After studying the books mentioned above I obtained Being and Time in the current translation (Stambaugh/Schmidt). What a difference! Compared to my first attempt reading Being and Time the second time proceeded more smoothly and with greater comprehension. Preparing myself by reading the preparatory works mention above was well worth the effort. Being and Time is now highly accessible to this highly motivated reader. Whether one studies texts supplementary to Being and Time I suggest one method of reading Heidegger's treatise: simply plod along as best as one can. The temptation - at least for me - was to meditate on small bites of text trying to digest their meaning perfectly. This is a bad strategy in my opinion. Using this method, finishing Being and Time could take months. Instead simply move along at a slow but steady pace without worrying about perfect comprehension. This is because Heidegger repeats the major themes in Being and Time throughout the entire book. Perhaps think of reading Being and Time as climbing a steep, treacherous mountain. The highly motivated hiker encounters all sorts of difficulties along the way but keeps moving forward towards the summit. I recommend highly this translation of Being and Time.

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