Being and Time

It has been said, and not without good reason, that much of what we know as modern Continental Philosophy is no more than a mere footnote to Martin Heidegger's (1889-1976) mammoth Being and Time. Without doubt Heidegger's major work this translation, by John Macquarrie and Edward Robinson, was the first English interpretation of Sein und Zeit, Heidegger's groundbreaking investigation into the question of Being, and although it has its critics it has served as the standard rendering of the work for many years. Whilst Joan Stambaugh's more idiomatic translation is certainly a little easier to read, the Macquarrie and Robinson work has not been surpassed for its fidelity to the original German. Serious students of Heidegger should perhaps read both translations whilst bearing in mind that Heidegger himself was profoundly concerned with the thought structures of any language that so handicap the possibility of translation. Being and Time is an essential reference book for anyone interested in modern philosophy. --Mark Thwaite

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