Focusing on the key concepts of Martin Heidegger's influential work, this companion serves as an introductory guide that clarifies and summarizes the essential elements of "Being and Time." It aims to make Heidegger's complex philosophy more accessible while providing nuanced insights into his ideas, making it a valuable resource for those seeking to understand his philosophical position.
The book presents a groundbreaking revision of psychoanalytic theory, shifting from the traditional drive-defence model to an information processing approach. It posits that the fundamental human need is self-knowledge rather than mere pleasure-seeking, suggesting that drives serve as tools to achieve this deeper understanding. This reorientation challenges Freudian concepts and offers a contemporary framework for psychoanalysis and psychodynamic psychotherapy, emphasizing the importance of cognitive processes in human motivation and behavior.
Richard Sembera introduces the reader to the essential features of Being and Time, Heidegger's main work in clear and unambiguous English. He dispels the nimbus of unintelligibility surrounding Heidegger's thought, a nimbus that Heidegger himself helped create and that has tended to confine serious Heidegger scholarship to closed circles. This is not a work about the "exisistentialist" Heidegger, the "Nazi" Heidegger, the "gnostic" Heidegger, or the "mystic" Heidegger. Nor is it a "diluted" Heidegger for beginners. Rephrasing Heidegger interprets the philosopher on his own terms, covering all the main aspects of Being and Time, and is particularly interesting for its detailed analysis of the structure and contents of this epoch-making philosophical work. Rephrasing Heidegger includes a unique glossary of technical terms which recur frequently throughout Being and Time whose translation is problematic or uncertain. It also includes a German-English lexicon which catalogues the translations of Heidegger's terms in the most important English translations of Being and Time. This is the first detailed commentary in English by a Heidegger specialist trained at Heidegger's own university by the world-renowned Heidegger scholar Prof. F.-W. von Herrman, the editor of the most important volumes of Heidegger's collected works in German.