Martin Heidegger

Martin Heidegger – Life, Career, and Famous Quotes

Martin Heidegger (1889–1976) was a pivotal German philosopher whose ideas on being, time, language, and technology shaped 20th-century thought. This article delves into his life and career, examines his controversies, and highlights his most famous quotes and lessons for us today.

Introduction

Martin Heidegger is one of the most influential and controversial philosophers of the 20th century. His work reshaped existentialism, phenomenology, hermeneutics, and the philosophy of language. He sought to ask deeper questions: What does it mean to be? and How does human existence relate to time, death, and authenticity? Today his ideas continue to provoke debate, influence thinkers across disciplines (literature, theology, political thought, architecture), and challenge us to reconsider the nature of being and technology.

Early Life and Family

Martin Heidegger was born on 26 September 1889 in Meßkirch (then in the Grand Duchy of Baden), Germany, to Johanna (Kempf) and Friedrich Heidegger.

Heidegger was raised in a devout Catholic household, and in his youth he even trained briefly for the priesthood.

In 1917, Heidegger married Elfride Petri in a Catholic ceremony; they later held a Protestant ceremony as well.

He also maintained a long-standing correspondence and intellectual–emotional relationship with Elisabeth Blochmann, a scholar and friend of his wife.

Youth and Education

Heidegger’s early formal education included secondary schooling in the region of Baden. In 1909 he enrolled at the University of Freiburg, initially in theology and philosophy.

While at Freiburg, he encountered the works of Franz Brentano, which began to shift his interests from pure theology toward philosophy. Edmund Husserl’s phenomenology, which became a major influence in his early thought.

He completed his doctorate in 1914 with the thesis “The Doctrine of Judgment in Psychologism: A Critical-theoretical Contribution to Logic.” Duns Scotus’s Doctrine of Categories and Meaning, supervised by Heinrich Rickert (a neo-Kantian philosopher).

This move away from theology into philosophy and logic, and the intersection with phenomenology, would set the stage for Heidegger’s later ontological project.

Career and Achievements

Being and Time (1927)

Heidegger’s magnum opus is Being and Time (Sein und Zeit), published in 1927. Being (Sein) by focusing on Dasein (a term he uses to designate human existence, literally “being-there”).

Key themes in Being and Time include:

• The notion that being is not a simple property but something that must be questioned.

• The existential structures of Dasein: being-in-the-world, care (Sorge), facticity, being-toward-death, authenticity vs. inauthenticity.

• Temporality as the horizon of understanding being: the future, past, and present are intertwined in our existence.

• The concept of thrownness (Geworfenheit)—we find ourselves already in a world not of our choosing.

This work had a transformative impact on existential and continental philosophy, influencing thinkers such as Jean-Paul Sartre, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Paul Ricoeur, Hans-Georg Gadamer, and others.

Academic Posts & Influence

After his habilitation, Heidegger served as a lecturer at Freiburg, then moved to the University of Marburg as an assistant professor.

In 1928, Hedegger was elected to succeed Husserl at Freiburg as the chair in philosophy (after Husserl’s retirement).

From then onward, Freiburg remained his intellectual home. He taught there for many years, mentoring many influential students, including Hannah Arendt, Herbert Marcuse, Karl Löwith, Hans Jonas, Günther Anders, Ernst Nolte, and others.

The Kehre (“Turn”)

After Being and Time, in the 1930s and beyond, Heidegger’s thought underwent what is often called the Kehre (German for “turn”).

In this later phase, he shifted focus from the existential analytics of Dasein to topics such as:

• The role of language in disclosing Being — that language is not just a tool but the “house of Being” (das Haus des Seins).

• The critique of modern technology: he argued that technology enframes (gestell) humanity’s relation to nature and obscures a more primordial relation to Being.

• A deeper exploration of history, poetry, art, and metaphysics as ways in which Being unveils itself.

• The notion of “the forgetting of Being” (Seinsvergessenheit), meaning that modern Western thought has lost touch with the more original question of Being.

Rectorship and Nazism

In April 1933, shortly after Adolf Hitler rose to power in Germany, Heidegger was elected Rector of the University of Freiburg. 1 May 1933, he joined the Nazi Party (NSDAP).

His rectorship was marked by public speeches and statements indicating alignment with aspects of the new regime. For example, his rectoral address “The Self-assertion of the German University” contained language that resonated with Nazi ideology.

However, by April 1934 he resigned the rectorship. He claimed political constraints—particularly demands to remove faculty members deemed unacceptable by the Nazi authorities—played a role.

These aspects of Heidegger’s life have generated intense debate: to what extent his philosophy is tainted by or complicit with his political affiliations.

Postwar, Teaching Ban, Rehabilitation

After World War II, Heidegger underwent denazification proceedings. The French military administration banned him from teaching and participating in university life.

He was classified as a Mitläufer (a follower, not a major perpetrator) in 1949.

From 1951–1958 he taught regularly; after that period, he accepted invitations to lecture until 1967.

In his later years, Heidegger focused on preparing a Complete ion (Gesamtausgabe) of his works. The first volume appeared in 1975.

He died on 26 May 1976 in Freiburg.

Historical Milestones & Context

• Weimar Republic & Interwar Years: Heidegger rose academically during a volatile period in German history (post-WWI, the Weimar Republic). His philosophical innovations coincided with existentialist and phenomenological trends in Europe.

• Rise of Nazism: His rectorship and membership in the Nazi party occurred in 1933, just as Hitler consolidated power. The political climate, and Heidegger’s decisions during it, remain highly scrutinized.

• World War II and Aftermath: The catastrophe of Nazism and the Holocaust forced German intellectuals to reckon with the moral and political implications of philosophy. Heidegger’s silence or equivocation about these events is a point of critique.

• Philosophical Turn & Postwar Thought: After the war, Heidegger’s turn toward language, art, and technology resonated with emerging themes in continental philosophy (e.g. hermeneutics, postphenomenology, deconstruction).

• Publication of the Black Notebooks: Starting around 2014, previously unpublished notebooks revealed statements with anti-Semitic content, rekindling debate about whether Heidegger’s philosophy is irreparably compromised.

• Ongoing Debates: Scholars continue to debate whether one can separate Heidegger’s rich ontology from his political entanglements, or whether the two are inseparable.

Legacy and Influence

Heidegger’s legacy is multifaceted and contested.

Philosophical Influence

• He helped transform existentialism and phenomenology, pushing toward a more fundamental ontology.

• His idea of language as the house of Being influenced hermeneutics and deconstruction (e.g. Gadamer, Derrida).

• His reflections on technology and modernity resonate in philosophy of technology, media theory, and environmental philosophy.

• His influence spans not just philosophy but architecture (how we dwell), literary criticism, theology, and cultural theory.

Students & Intellectual Descendants

Some of his students or those influenced by him—Hannah Arendt, Hans-Georg Gadamer, Herbert Marcuse, Karl Löwith—took up or responded to his ideas in diverse directions.
Heidegger’s thought provided both a source of inspiration and a foil for subsequent thinkers.

Controversy & Criticism

• His role and affiliation with Nazism continue to attract harsh criticism. Many scholars argue that his political stance cannot be cleanly separated from his philosophical vision.

• The anti-Semitic remarks in the Black Notebooks have deepened suspicion that prejudice was rooted in the very structure of his thought.

• Analytic philosophers often criticize his dense and obscure writing style and question whether his ontology is rigorous or meaningful.

• Some argue his views about being and technology have ideological implications that align uncomfortably with technocratic or authoritarian worldviews.

Despite all this, Heidegger remains a towering figure: one whose insights, errors, and provocations continue to generate conversation, reflection, and critique.

Personality and Talents

Heidegger was a private, intense thinker with a single-minded devotion to philosophical inquiry. His style is famously difficult, with neologisms, poetic metaphors, and dense German technical vocabulary.

He possessed a rare capacity for poetic thinking—he was deeply interested in poetry (especially Hölderlin). He used metaphors (dwelling, building, clearing, earth) to evoke existential insight.

He was also adept as a lecturer, drawing students into deep conversational inquiry rather than merely giving didactic lectures. Many accounts describe his presence as contemplative, provocative, sometimes even mystical.

However, he also had human contradictions. His political engagement reveals a moral and ethical complexity; his relationships (e.g. with Elisabeth Blochmann) indicate a life that was not purely ascetic. His silence on moral questions (especially during and after the Nazi period) remains a part of his persona that critics confront.

Famous Quotes of Martin Heidegger

Below are selected quotes that reflect key themes in his thought:

1. “How one encounters reality is a choice.”

2. “Thinking begins only when we have come to know that reason, glorified for centuries, is the stiff-necked adversary of thought.”

3. “Being and time determine each other reciprocally, but in such a manner that neither can the former — Being — be addressed as something temporal nor can the latter — time — be addressed as a being.”

4. “That which is ontically closest and well known, is ontologically the farthest and not known at all; and its ontological signification is constantly overlooked.”

5. “We are too late for the gods and too early for Being.”

6. “Only a God can save us.” — from his 1966 interview (published posthumously) titled “Only a God Can Save Us”

7. “Dichterisch wohnet der Mensch …” (roughly, “Poetically dwells the human”) — a leitmotif indicating that to dwell poetically is a way of being at home in Being.

8. From his Letter on Humanism (responding to Sartre):

   “Existentialism says existence precedes essence. … But the reversal of a metaphysical statement remains a metaphysical statement. With it, he stays with metaphysics, in oblivion of the truth of Being.”

These quotes hint at his central concerns: the question of Being, the limits of reason, the primacy of poetic and existential modes of thinking.

Lessons from Heidegger

1. Don’t forget to question Being. In an age dominated by utility, measurement, and technological enframing, Heidegger reminds us to pause and ask: What does it mean that things “are”?

2. Embrace finitude and mortality. Heidegger argues that human existence is always “being-toward-death” — awareness of our limits can ground authenticity.

3. Language is not neutral. Words shape how we experience and disclose the world. Thinking poetically or carefully with language is a form of dwelling.

4. Beware of technological enframing. The modern technological mindset tends to reduce beings to resources, obscuring deeper relations of meaning.

5. Authenticity vs inauthenticity. Many people live distracted, unreflective lives; Heidegger calls for owning one’s existence instead of being absorbed by “the they” (das Man).

6. Philosophy and ethics are intertwined. One cannot wholly separate Heidegger’s ontology from the ethical and political domain; his life shows the tensions and responsibilities of thinking.

7. Dialogue and critique matter. His legacy is not monolithic; it lives through ongoing engagement, critique, and reinterpretation.

Conclusion

Martin Heidegger remains an unsettling, deeply provocative, and rich presence in modern intellectual life. His inquiry into Being, his engagement with language, and his critique of technology continue to echo across philosophy, literature, cultural studies, and beyond. Yet his political choices—especially his affiliation with Nazism and the later revelations of anti-Semitic content—invite us to ask hard questions: Can we separate the thinker from the thought? To what extent must philosophy be accountable?

Whether one admires or rejects his philosophy, engaging with Heidegger demands seriousness—and rewards it with profound challenges to how we conceive ourselves, our world, and the act of thought itself. Explore more of his writings, meditate on his quotes, and perhaps let yourself dwell poetically with Being in your own life.