Hi Eric, I'd really like to say this a fantastic introduction into Heidegger. I'm actually really surprised and impressed how you've managed to condense some notoriously difficult concepts, that many professors have difficulty describing over the course of a term or a year, into 12 minutes without losing too much of the essence of Heidegger's thought. Bravo!
Thanks, thembluetube. Yeah, it's always a difficult task of triage to decide which corners to cut, which subtleties & vocabulary to leave out, how many German terms to use, etc. So, it's gratifying to hear from you that you really appreciate the kind of difficult balance I was trying to strike in this video. So many thanks to you... both for watching, and for taking the time to write such a warm and thoughtful comment. Eric
Eric Dodson Absolutely no problem, thanks for taking the time to put these kind of things on youtube. It's stuff like this that makes me appreciate the internet so much :)
+João Pedro: Without Nietzsche Heidegger wouldn't exist as a thinker or a philosopher at all. He spend nearly all his life reading and trying to understand Nietzsche's reaslly thaught. It's evident that Heidegger is not the same thinker or person as Nietzsche, but the philosophic core is the same. > We are here on Earth without any reason (metaphisically), hence it's only WE who have to give a sense at our life (existence) . Nietzsche says: "Become what you are" ! (or: try do develop yourself at the highest level as possible) and Heidegger says : "As humans we have to have a project in life" - without, our existence is nothing more than those of simple animals . Therefore both were the founder of the EXISTENTIALISM , completed after them by J.P. Sartre. This said, your comparison Marx/Hegel is totally unfitting because Hegel was a metaphisic thinker, while Marx a totally positivist and atheist philosopher. The following left-wing interpretation of Hegel is totally wrong: Only because of the reason that Hegel was considered the most up-to-date thinker, Marx adopted his dialectic method for his philosophy. But Hegel would have died knowing how Marx perverted his basicly bourgeois and monarchic thaught : he was also salaried by "Friedrich der Grosse" > the direct opposite of Marx !
+marco brenni dude phenomenology arrived on the scene after Nietzsche. Heidegger's philosophy is a profound response to methodological errors within phenomenology. Neitzsche has nothing to do with this! Do you not get this?!
You're dude. Hegel died (1831) far before Nietzsch's birth (1844). Heidegger 's most concern was to understand and to interpretate Nietzsche's thought. He was really obsessed by Nietzsche for all his life. Therefore Hegel, a far overrated fanciful philosopher, was for him a secondary fact
This is what happens when teachers understand their stuff, and see their sole purpose in passing it on to as many people as possible - without the need to hide behind terminology, complicated sentence structures, obscure diagrams, or fancy images. I wish we had teachers like you here in Germany, Eric. And I wish I could have sat in one of your classes. Keep on keep'n on, Eric.
Such an excellent introduction. The flowing way you link concepts simplifies the subject brilliantly without losing any essence of the ideas. Thank you! I'm very excited to find your videos.
Wow, thanks, Bobby. I'm glad that you're enjoying these videos so much. That makes me happy. I'm working on one on Edmund Husserl now, and it should be done in a week or two... Thanks again for watching. Eric
This has been the most helpful explanation of Heidegger that I have come across so far. I have not gotten farther than the intro to Being and Time, but this makes me want to keep reading. Thank you!
+Danni v I agree Danni. Have to remember any book uses words and words are concepts and you cant couch experience conceptually. That's why I also hardly get by the intro. What these great thinkers are attempting to say has to do with abstractions and abstractions come from nothing , and in existentialism nothing is the original face. Concepts explain. Abstractions generate . That is the main distinction .
"You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment. Fools stand on their island of opportunities and look toward another land. There is no other land; there is no other life but this.” - Henry David Thoreau
You have provided an excellent summary! Thank you: of course, if one's interested, one should look further into Heiddeger's "Time and Being" to see his own dead end alley regarding being. Heiddeger's problem (which he could never overcome) was trying to tackle the question of Being through highly analytical thought (very much those cathedrals of words in the German tradition, and grandiose metaphysical system-building one finds in Kant, Hegel, Schopengauer, etc.) that made great use of entomology (i.e. Greek roots of words and his approach toward the Pre-Socratic philosophers). Being (dasein) is our default setting and consciousness is entangled with it: it is, whether we can verbalize it or not, the very thing we are experiencing all the time. If philosophy is born out of wonderment, poetry (this includes our myth making and religious stories) is the deepest expression of Dasein and the end of the line regarding the scope of man's verbal and imaginative capacity. The Indian Vedas (and the yogic traditions they inspired, including Buddhism) handle the problem of being in terms of enlightenment: that state which goes beyond all thought (and Heiddeger's difficulty is that he's always grounded in words and concepts and is thus the dog chasing it's own tail) and is the experience of pure consciousness: this is known as Advaita non-dualism. I would suggest to anyone interested Ramana Maharishi's "Who am I?" Heiddeger should have read it. The Indians by dealing only with the subject's direct experience and a state of no-thought were able to overcome a problem (centuries before) Heiddeger approached unsuccessfully through analytical thinking which he finally abbandoned (Time and Being is unfinished) by realizing that poetry was the next step up but hardly the last step (which is purely experiential). The Vedas are humanity's best attempt to deal with being and consciousness because they point to direct experience (and lead to Being exactly as the "Nameless" - Netineti, in Sanskrit) rather than the laborious, endless and fatiguing mental and word juggling and mazes of German philosophy. Wittgenstein too had the right idea: that about which we can say nothing, we should be silent. In the Vedas, that silence is exactly the emblem of an experience unconveyable through words and concepts. It is Dasein only suggested or evoked through the highest poetry (this Heiddeger got right). And as K.V. Raghupathi, a wonderful current Indian yogi poet states in a verse from his long poem "Desert Blooms": "No, man is not completed in death." Sorry, Herr Doktor!
I am not a fan of Vedas (although some things they got perfectly right and very early), but sure thing, Heidegger's philosophy is pure bestiality. If animals could talk, they'd report being heideggeian.
Oh my bloody goodness, this was the clearest and most concise summary of Heidegger I have seen yet. Thank you, thank you, thank you for making this, it's so very helpful and informative, clearly superior to any other I have watched thus far. Wow. I'm a stupid 16 year old and I've understood this, finally! You're amazing, thank you again.
Love this video. So relevant in all ways. I had a life perspective shift in 2013 after almost dying due to a perfect storm of rare illness. I gained a weird sort of clarity & lost the anxiety I experienced/suffered for the majority of my life prior. Sort of like...”what was I worried about that stuff for?”. Fantastic content on your channel. I only recently discovered you. Spend a lot of time catching up on the content. Thank you.
It's been some years since this video was published, but I just watching it now I really would like to thank you for this master piece. By far the best summary of Heidegger I've seen so far.
I really enjoyed your lucid summary and use of imagery to reinforce Heidegger's metaphors and analogues. You managed to make much of his thinking simple without it becoming simplistic. Thank you. I hope it encourages others to begin studying his work and thinking about its implications for living in worthwhile ways (and maybe saving the human life on the planet to boot).
***** Yeah... but one thing I've discovered in life is that people who make miserable decisions, or who are repugnant characters, can sometimes still speak important, profound truths.
Beautiful exposition. For what it's worth, I think the serious flaw in his thinking comes in his analysis of imitation and inauthenticity. A great counterpoint is offered by Rene Girard, who shows that imitation is the very way in which human beings are formed and in which relationships and communities are maintained. Heidegger's analysis of care at this level is woefully one-sided and assumes that the only true authenticity is individual and not interpersonal or communal. I would argue, following Girard, that friendship can be a deep expression of authenticity, even though, or perhaps because, it involves imitation of the other. Like Nietzsche, Heidegger seems to be chasing the romantic heroic individual, thus his analysis dismisses other profound forms of authenticity.
My goodness... participated of course... I've just discovered the treasure trove of genius you lay out before us so graciously in a collection of videios. A simple thank you seems so insuffient, but it is heartfelt and an irresistible movement of the spirit of gratitude. Thank you.
Well, thanks, Tom, for your warm, poetic words. In my own life, I've learned not to under-estimate the power of a simple thank-you. In fact, I make these videos in part because of the deep sense of gratitude I feel for people who've taken time & energy to share what they know on UA-cam so openly and so freely. Basically, these videos are one of my ways of trying to give something back to the universe. And so.... let me end by sending a big thank-you to you, too, Tom -- for taking the time to watch & comment... but also for being alive in this world. Eric
Very clear presentation!!! Great work! I have to point out (as somebody else did in a post below), that all of Heidegger thoughts are already present in Buddhism, Daoism, Vedanta/Advaïta...etc, and that these "philosophies", have the incomparable advantage to join a praxis to the theory. The main difference is thus, that the body has to be trained to feel and examine in silence to grasp the full spectrum of phenomena (in their physicality-senses /perception/emotionality-ideation/base consciousness). A development of the body's awareness is simultaneous to the exploration of ideas that help understanding the underlying reality. Extreme care is given to this strengthening of the body/mind to be able to flush all of fallenness called the "acquired mind", and liberate the authentic "congenital mind" (Daoist terms). The alignment of Xing (form) and Ming (destiny), happens both in the moment, and in an ever evolving refinement (the art of change). The person who achieve his true potential is called a True person (Zhen Ren)...a person who has achieved the authenticity of being-ness beyond all the dualisms... This constant transformation that returns us to the natural, (uncontrived by inherited/familial and societal conditionings), is the both goal and the path. Stilling oneself in silence, relaxing and listening, to be....
Amazing video...to the point... understandable....yet solid detail too. NOT reductive. I learned from so much...and in 30 min (has to stop and think a few tines). Saved me so much time . Great job. Good detail.
Hi Eric , i'd just like to say along with many others how useful i found this video . I'm right at the beginning of studying existentialism and its application in therapy. It certainly is a fascinating if not daunting subject. However with this video and other input i hope to make some inroads. My initial impression is that it is a vital and positive philosophy which has personal and universal applications and insights in this complex and sometimes soulless world.
This wonderful, informative brief explanation of Heidegger major themes and philosophy are the best 12 minutes one can spend for an introduction to the philosopher himself.
jon canales Thanks for the warm words, jon. As may be obvious, my whole project here is to make these somewhat dense ideas more accessible to everyone (and not just specialists). And thanks for taking the time to watch! Eric
Ditto: Bravo:) I just sat in on my daughters' class... I was able to catch on because I am familiar with the subject at hand; I know it's going over a lot of students heads! I can't wait for my daughter to listen to the 12 minute video... excellent
I am called Irene Chaliz - Schoenfeld Hi Irene... well that's cool! I'm glad that you were able to get such immediate and relevant benefit from this video! If you're as much of a joker as I am, you might try dropping a few Heideggerian terms into casual conversation with your daughter -- before you tell her about this video.
I guess it wasn't a smart idea to go discover Heidegger at 3am after only having 5 hours of sleep today. But I see some extremely useful insights and wisdom coming from him, that I can make use..as soon as I sleep and manage to actually grasp them. I did watch another video which didn't illustrate and "decipher the message" as well as yours did, and even with my minimal cognitive capability I managed to get the overall idea. All that, just to say "thanks for another great video!" :)
Gabeux Yeah, it's pretty hard to read Heidegger if you haven't had enough sleep. And in the beginning, he's hard to read even if you have had enough. But after a while, you'll probably get used to his idiosyncrasies... and then you'll wonder why you ever had trouble with it. Anyhow... good luck with that adventure. Eric
Excellent introductory video to Heidegger. By all means, no 12 minutes lesson about Heidegger will be 100% complete, but this one gives you that basic understanfing that enables you to comprehend the details on more specific websites
Good summary! The only consolation we have for Heidegger's baneful influence upon philosophical discourse is that his influence has not extended appreciably beyond second year grad school.
thank you, and i believe you've done a fine job in presenting some of the basic tenants of Heidegger's philosophy. I first read "Being and Time" some 50 years ago as a college student, and I still go back to him occasionally. Increasingly I see to what extent his philosophy is quite similar (and probably influenced by) Eastern traditions of Buddhism
Dear Eric,having read Being and Time (in the Dutch translation) at the beginning of this year, your video helps me understand the book better. Thanks for this video.
Thanks, Frans. I'm glad that this video helped you with Being and Time. I of course had to omit many cool & worthwhile ideas, such as H's famous treatment of "equipmentality," and his analysis of "Being-in as such" (in terms of Befindlichkeit, Verstehen, Rede)... but you have to draw the line somewhere, I guess. Maybe I should make Heidegger, part 2... but I want to do Dostoyevski's Notes from the Underground next... then maybe something on Kierkegaard. Anyhow, thanks for watching, and for taking the time to comment.
Thanks for this. So Heidegger saw one's perception of the world being the only reality worth knowing. So the nature of truth has a lot to do with our perspective, on which perspectives we choose. Our point of view is shaped by how we choose to see the world, and how much one cares about experience, how intensely we experience life, etc. The concept of fallenness is very interesting, how passively are we just receiving life instead of interacting in a vibrant and curious manner. I also plan on reading more about his concept of authenticity and achieving the ideal self. The time to be deeply alive in the moment is now. The fierce urgency of now!
I saw the title of this video and I was like, "yeah right?!" but I must say, you did a damn good job! I've been hitting the books hard, trying to get an overview of H., and you come along and do the thing I was trying to do! With cartoons, no less. Nice job.
Manu Forster Yes, it can, and some people prefer that translation. Another one that you hear sometimes is, "anyone." However, the two major English translations of Being & Time, first by Maquarrie & Robinson, and then by Stambaugh, both translate it as "the they." So that's what I went with in this brief video (you have to cut corners somewhere to pack Heidegger into 12 minutes). Anyhow... thanks for watching. Eric
Not quite, I heard some stuff from Heidegger's The Phenomenology of Religious Life and his Onto-Theological Constitution of Metaphysics. Im sure there are more, but this primary source On Bring and Time is the only real book Heidegger wrote and wrote comprehensibly. His other writings are slowly going to be translated because of some weird situation with his wanting notes to be written at a later time
You're right, Alexander, but it's also true that the (still excellent) video didn't get into the theme of the ontological difference, which is a crucial link between the earlier and later works. Nonetheless, by way of agreeing with you I'll say to Flea bitten that explaining Heidegger's work in 12 minutes is perhaps done best by mostly treating Being and Time plus a few ancillary issues that suggest the larger picture, as Dodson has done. Being and Time provides the key to understanding both what Heidegger is getting at in his earliest works and the framework of problems and presuppositions in his later works. Also check out "The Concept of Time" and "The Principle of Reason" for condensed presentations of his earlier and later views, respectively.
@Eric Dodson thank you so much for putting up these priceless contents on UA-cam It inspires to be read and think which people lack in these technological busy life.
Anyone can achieve their fullest potential, who we are might be predetermined, but the path we follow is always of our own choosing. We should never allow our fears or the expectations of others to set the frontiers of our destiny. Your destiny can't be changed but, it can be challenged. Every man is born as many men and dies as a single one. Martin Heidegger
Couldn't help but notice how, in late capitalist advertising, its general message aggressively purports these quasi-Heideggerian truths about living for oneself, living authentically, being all you can be before you die. Essentially, Das Man is literally telling us to seize our authenticity, all while giving us more subtle forms of living inauthenticity. Would be curious to hear people's takes on this...
Better to study Zen first in order to understand Heidegger. IMO he basically attempts to describe zen to (object/duality)-obsessed westerners, but ultimately falls short of illustrating the poetic truth of the Koan. Non-duality is the key to understanding. Listen to Alan Watts and then move on to Suzuki, Rinpoche and Dogen. Then live the koans.
Very well put, you would enjoy Chung-Yuan Chang's book 'Tao: A New Way Of Thinking'. Relates Heidegger to Zen and Tao in the most succinct and sophisticated way I have read.
One of my favorite books is Irrational Man by William Barrett. He does an excellent analysis of Heidegger. His book The Illusion of Technique is another of my favorites. I recommend both to those interested in Existentialism.
This is exceptional. I've had a tendency to reduce "authenticity" to a kind of Rousseuistic "sincerity." Another analogy I've used is the Aristotelian distinction between the "conventional" and the "natural." That is, "nomos" and "phusis." Clearly Heidegger builds upon Aristotle, while destroying him. Or rather the "received" Aristotle. Our embodiment, our socio-economic background--these do shape us. But they do not determine us. Heidegger seems to encourage us to transcend such "environmental factors." That is, if we want to really be free; or, if we really want to do something "original" that is also socially responsible and meaningful. To "dig down deeper into ourselves" might be a Heideggerian approach to our personal lives. As for the man Heidegger, he was, from an early age, literally "stunned" by existence, and thus literally, constantly, WONDERED about it. This aspect of his personality shaped his entire purpose in life. His childlike WONDER. In this sense, he remains an "Aristotelian."
Thanks, Mstoyor1. It makes me happy that people like you are enjoying them and getting things out of them. Thanks for taking the time to watch, and to comment, too. Eric
I'm struggling grasping the concepts of phenomenology thank you +ericdobson, the world is definitely a better place when people like you share your knowledge, your do not bamboozle or over complicate...just one question, if I am using phenomenology (IPA) as a methodology how in-depth should my knowledge be ?
+Rebecca Lloyd First, you're welcome. Second, I would say that for the purposes of conducting phenomenological research, it's not so important to be conversant in the detailed insights that derive from Heidegger's work (of that of other phenomenologists, such as Husserl, Merleau-Ponty, Sartre, etc.). However, it IS important to understand the general movement of phenomenology -- for instance, the distinction between the natural attitude and the phenomenological attitude, or the idea of hermeneutics. The reason why this is important to, say, IPA, is that without understanding the basic idea of phenomenology's direction, it's difficult to say why doing IPA is important or worthwhile in the first place. Anyhow, that's my opinion. Your results may vary. In any case, good luck with your project. P.S. You may find my video on Husserl and the Adventure of Phenomenology worthwhile. In the second half, I talk a bit about applying phenomenology to psychological research.
Study Zen first in order to understand Heidegger. IMO he basically attempts to describe zen to (object/duality)-obsessed westerners, but ultimately falls short of illustrating the poetic truth of the Koan. Non-duality is the key to understanding. Listen to Alan Watts and then move on to Suzuki, Rinpoche and Dogen. Then live the koans.
His emphasis on the moment is derived from Buddhism. And the term phenomenolgy denotes impermanence...which is also a pillar of Buddhism. Western philosophy gives us an over view of the human condition, which is largely one of suffering and discontent, (which is also Buddhist..dukha) without a viable solution. Existentialism in general suffers from this lack of remedy. Camus tells us to be happy in spite of our misery, (The Myth Of Sisyphus) which is a paradox that has no solution based in reality. Buddhism tells us that because there is no separation between mind and world, and that most of our misery is due to our language based thought processes, coming to the moment through meditation clears our mind and, this is turn, eases our suffering. Heideggar and the other existentialist didn't go far enough. Analyzing the condition is only the first step. There are so many words and so little wisdom...or comfort. That Heideggar joined the Nazis, not only contradicts the fundamental tenants of existentialism, which places so much emphasis on individual freedom and potential, but it's...bizarre in the extreme. Why did he willingly give up his ability to think for himself in favor of letting the Nazis do his thinking. Was this his way of striving for selflessness? I mean losing himself in the herd? It's weird.... I think the fundamental problem with western philosophy is its reliance on language to try and define that which cannot be put into so many words. Language is not rigorous like mathematics. Words, in and of themselves, are very inexact. One word can point in many directions.
'That Heideggar joined the Nazis, not only contradicts the fundamental tenants of existentialism, which places so much emphasis on individual freedom and potential, but it's...bizarre in the extreme.' I believe that that's addressed at 8:40. 'I always pass on good advice. It is the only thing to do with it. It is never of any use to oneself.' ~ Oscar Wilde
I will have to defend western philosophy here. That “no separation of mind and world” is something already taken seriously by thinkers like Spinoza and Schopenhauer. I admire Buddhism, but it is no less obscure than Heidegger. The way I see it, Buddhism advocates the denial of the self and ascetism, which I agree with. The thing is that it is an impossible ideal for most people, unless you want to be a monk. Buddhism has nothing to add that Christian mysticism, Neoplatonism, Spinoza or Schopenhauer has already cleared out. And I will add that existentialism offers a more realistic and honest view of the human existence than Buddhism, which obscurely and abstractly offers what Schopenhauer more comprehensible sums up in his aesthetics, ethics and ascetics. I admire Buddhism, but I would no say it is more “clear” or “true” than what wester philosophy has discovered.
As someone who has been dancing around Heidegger and his Being and Time , for some time, I find your summary quite excellent. How do you compare his thought with that of Hegel(also notoriously obscure in his writings), who I feel tackled Being and Non-being as well ?
Great video! I've thought it would be impossible to explain Heidegger in 12 minutes but you teached me wrong. Thank, thank you very much! BTW: as a German I prefer to hear and read English explaination of Heidegger because translating Heidegger into German makes things more confusing. But of course, I read Heidegger in German.
A wonderfull and stimulating videos about people that understood that philosophy is the most practical subject or discipline in the world, especially ethics. We need to make philosophy more aproachable to people, because in my observation people who don't like philosphy never actually got the chance to understand it and be enthusiastic about it. And videos such as this achieve just this. Olso it the most noble way of using the internet, to spread knowlage and help people to overcome their problems and realize their full potential and live a good life. P.S: Another such noble chanell is The school of life.
You might find it interesting that the Asians holding umbrellas in your video aren't waiting for rain -- the women are shielding themselves from the sun (strong cultural desire for fair skin). Also note that many Asian languages have subjects and objects as well (not just European languages).
+Boyd Jones Cool... I didn't know that about the picture. So, in their world, "they" probably say that women shouldn't take too much sun because it'll make them less attractive. And thanks also for the update on Asian languages. I suspected that they probably have subject/object structures, but I've studied only European languages, so I didn't think that I had enough certainty about Asian languages to make a more encompassing claim in the video. Anyhow, thanks for taking the time to watch & comment. Eric D.
You're presupposing that the object (i.e. language) is real. It's discourse about the object (within phenomenology) which not only explains it as being subject/object based, but also what constructs the object. Discourse. In other words, theoretical linguistics is a practice within/of a certain ideological Norm that it has to reproduce: the subject/object dichotomy. Norm. Isn't language, above all, about social relations? Linguistics dismisses ideas/historical meaning in order to search for objectivity (for instance, in talking only about forms and functions) precisely because our mode of production (capitalism) needs, more and more, a literal (objectual) 'subject' in order to cope with the contradictory reality of freedom = subject (exploited)/Subject (exploiter) social relations. In this sense, doesn't it help (the system) to have discourse telling you that freedom is about private (free) expression and public (empirical/phenomenological, meaning non-material/historical) knowledge about the world, including the so called 'Human Nature'?
Noam Chomsky's primary academic contribution is his assertion that subject/object distinction (and some other language fundamentals) are human universals and are probably coded into us at birth. This stands in opposition to earlier ideas (like the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis) that language is entirely learned and that we are tabula rasas at birth.
Mr Dodson , this was simply terrific. I.. this will sound funny .. found truth (given philosophical and existential logical acknowledgements) in Thomism, the philosophy of Saint Thomas Aquinas so grounded as you know in Aristotle's moderate realism. I had been told by a philosopher of some substance (forgive the pun) that Aquinas had reduced and obscured being into a propositional object. I thought , and think that criticism far from true, and your excellent .. really excellently presented video has helped me to better understand Heidegger and reinforces my view that he didn't get Plato , or took the medieval philosophical development of Aristotle in some kind of neoplatonic sense. In any case, thank you so much for making our journeys of the mind so beneficial when means to such Aristotelian ends are so beautifully done. We all owe you.
Hmm... I sometimes sense that at the meta-level, philosophical systems always converge more than they diverge -- that in the final analysis their similarities always end up being greater than their differences. The reason for this is that philosophical activity is, in one way or another, always a way of trying to fathom what's really going on. So, I see no problem in principle with gleaning existential insights from Aquinas, even if it's not common to do so. The Judaic theologian Abraham Heschel says it pretty well: "Everything holds the secret." Anyhow... thanks again for watching and for taking the time to comment. Eric
Eric Dodson Hi Eric. Thanks for your comment. Indeed I agree with your Judaic theologian Hesch "Everything holds the secret." That fits with certainly Catholic insight, surely with the Aristo-Thomistic synthesis as efficient , formal and final cause. Cheers Eric and thanks again.
Great video Eric - thank you. I'm always perplexed that philosophers (meaning those who are actively in the profession of Philosophy such as yourself) have not reached agreements on common axioms grounding philosophy over history - so that progress can be made (I'm referring to David Chalmers video on 'Why Isn't There More Progress in Philosophy?' which can be looked up here on UA-cam). It would seem that one of the last statements here, "...especially since the indeterminacy of mortality means that no other moments are guaranteed to us" would qualify as an axiom of philosophy. I know you answer questions in your other videos - so I guess I'm asking that specifically - why isn't there more progress in philosophy and what, in your opinion, would be the way to improve that? Are there not a set of common axioms philosophers could ground on and build upon? (I'm on the outside of your profession so I may not be understanding just what philosophical progress means to you). Thanks!
Don Sudduth in my view, there can't be progression in philosophy because history and thinking are contingent. The only neccessary thought that will arise in any philosophy is "I think therefore I am". This is the only neccessary truth in existance. What is being build around this is simply a matter of opinion. And it is rare for humans and so for philosophers to have the same opinion, especially when times and cultures change. That is why nobody todady is still building upon Plato's or Kant's philosophy. We take from history what we like and then form our own idea's. And this is not a linear progression, this is a constant breakdown and buildup of idea's. It's more or less like a feedback loop. Philosophy takes from existing thought what she likes and builds new thought, in turn that new thought becomes the existing thought and it broken down in coherence with the time spirit. Then again a new thought arises. So in some way it is "progressing" but morphing would be a better name. One can't trace a beginning or expect an end, because if philosophy had an end that would mean that one day there would be nothing left to philosophize about, which is unthinkable. This is also why fixed-system builders in philosophy, who treat it like a science, are often criticized.
I share this quite often, with positive feedback. Today I got my favorite critique so far: “Crisp and useful” Thought you might appreciate it too, Eric.
+Eric Dodson Thanks for posting this. One bit of feedback: The way you've structured the video, you're asking viewers to split their attention between (a) listening to what you're saying and (b) reading often text-heavy slides of unknown duration and unclear relevance with which your comments do not entirely align. For me, the slides were just a distraction.
Thanks, ncooty, for the feedback. Yeah, I've been debating whether this is the best format for what I'm doing. On one hand, it lets me convey more content because I get to augment what I'm saying with material woven into the visual portions (which is why they aren't always identical). However, as you say, it also risks making too many demands on my viewers' consciousness. After I finish the next video, I'll probably experiment some with including a camera feed of my delivery, perhaps in alternation with the slides. Although I suspect that simply watching me is probably relatively boring, perhaps it would give the viewers a bit of a rest from possible overload. What do you think of that idea? Thanks again for the feedback. Eric D.
+Eric Dodson These are merely the opinions of 1 viewer, but, in response to your question, I suppose it depends on the aim. That is, I presume form would follow function. 1. If you're aiming to present what someone wrote, then you might opt for a Ken Burns approach (narration accompanied by slow zooms on photos + relevant historical or modern film). 2. If you're critically evaluating, you might use metaphors with imagery to suit. 3. Showing your narration might only be fitting if you're presenting your views on a subject; otherwise, you might prefer to be less visible. In any case, it's generally more fluid (less taxing) if the visual styles are congruent/ continuous throughout a video (similar camera style, same font, same layouts to tables/ graphs, similar relevance of colors, etc.), or that a change of visual style correlates with a change in tone or perspective of the narration (e.g., famously: between black-and-white and color in "The Wizard of Oz"). Otherwise, it's a bit of a jostle. If you do expect viewers to read a slide, pause to let them do it and either (a) give an indication of timing (e.g., a visual or musical cue, such as the end of a musical piece) or (b) always give more than enough time to read, especially if the content is dense. Of course, you presumably also have a life outside of editing videos for your UA-cam channel... and you're certainly under no obligation to appease the sensibilities of opinionated twits such as I. :)
Wow, many thanks for the detailed reply. Your suggestions are really useful to me as I try to make my way through the thickets of an unfamiliar medium. Yes, it's probably obvious that I'm just a very amateur UA-cam™ hobbyist. But I am interested in improving the accessibility and appeal of my presentations, especially in ways that don't generate mountains of extra labor for me. Yes, I agree that in this instance, it's best for form to follow function. In my earlier videos (such as this one), I was trying to invite viewers into a domain of thought in the quickest way possible... which naturally led toward compressing as much material into each minute as possible (which in turn led to the kind of perceptual-overload you're noticing). In my more recent videos, I'm taking a somewhat more expansive approach, which has perhaps ameliorated some of the difficulties you're describing. Of course, this then runs the risk of taxing viewers' patience during videos that are about twice as long. Anyhow, I'd definitely be interested in hearing your feedback of one of my more recent efforts, if you're so inclined. But, if not, that's okay, too.... you've already helped me a lot. In any case, thanks for the great responses! Gratefully, Eric D.
I have read the comments by ncooty, and understand that his suggestions may make your video more didactic . But... I loved the way the images complemented/ questioned what was being said. Two dialogs at the same time. I found this informative, stimulation and creative. I abhor going to lectures and seeing on the slides ( datashow) exactly what is being said by the speaker. Anyway, just my opinion.... The richness of your material made me watch it twice and use the 'pause' button once in a while to resolve the questionable ' problem' of ' text-heavy slides". By the way the umbrellas , obviously, did not represent the coming of rain, since the sky is a bright blue. It was symbolic. Still they are umbrellas. I aso liked that touch... It made me think. Thanks for the great video!
I like to think the one phrase that kind of sums of Heidegger (if that's even possible) is that we are "always already." Well, it at least sums up his idea of "throwness" that you explained so well
Thank you for wonderful video Eric. I had read that between past, present, and future Heidegger considers “future” the most vital as it somehow unfolds or “gives direction” to the present! I wonder if you ever came across something like that?
I know more about phenomenology (as understood post-Husserl) in general--and not so much about that--than about Heidigger in particular. But in relation to the little I know about either, I feel the 12 minutes I spent with you I spent well . Thanks. (I notice that one image that flashed on screen showed two English translations of "Being and Time," the 2nd from 1996. Which translation, if either, would you recommend?
"I dwell, you dwell. The way in which you are and I am, the manner in which we humans are on earth, is buan, dwelling. to be a human being means to be on the earth as a mortal"
To the significance of a philosopher's biography he said in 1924 at a lecture on Aristotle referring to what Plato says in "The Sophist" (Stephanus, 246d): "Bei der Persönlichkeit eines Philosophen hat nur das Interesse: Er wurde dann und dann geboren, er arbeitete und starb," which would translate as follows: "The only topic of interest in the life of a philosopher is the fact the he was born and worked and died." And the point is clear: it seems fair to look into the mind of the philosopher by examining what he says and thinks disregarding his circumstances of his political involvement - rather than to make prejudiced opinions FOR or AGAINST his philosophy without even having read and understood his thought.
Informative, thought provoking and very well spoken! Thanks for the wonderful video and sharing :) I have no idea if this is in anyway accurate as I have not read Heidegger yet- I guess I'm taking on reading Being and Time next errrr sounds tough lol
Redwoodization Thanks... just a word of caution about reading Heidegger. He can be pretty intimidating, at least at first -- especially if you're not particularly used to reading phenomenology. So, if you're going to dig into Being & Time, it might be helpful to have one of the secondary explanatory texts close by. Just a thought. Anyhow, good luck with the adventure! Eric
Nice video, thank you. If Heidegger thought no one had undergone an exstensive examination of being, what did he think of Husserl's work? Wasn't Husserl trying to do the same thing?
Hi Eric, I'd really like to say this a fantastic introduction into Heidegger. I'm actually really surprised and impressed how you've managed to condense some notoriously difficult concepts, that many professors have difficulty describing over the course of a term or a year, into 12 minutes without losing too much of the essence of Heidegger's thought. Bravo!
Thanks, thembluetube. Yeah, it's always a difficult task of triage to decide which corners to cut, which subtleties & vocabulary to leave out, how many German terms to use, etc. So, it's gratifying to hear from you that you really appreciate the kind of difficult balance I was trying to strike in this video. So many thanks to you... both for watching, and for taking the time to write such a warm and thoughtful comment. Eric
Eric Dodson Absolutely no problem, thanks for taking the time to put these kind of things on youtube. It's stuff like this that makes me appreciate the internet so much :)
You owe me 11 more seconds of Heidegger info
Duke Silver The last 11 seconds is silent for us to consider our own inauthenticity.
+Duke Silver : It's far enough. Read better Nietzsche's work !
+João Pedro: Without Nietzsche Heidegger wouldn't exist as a thinker or a philosopher at all. He spend nearly all his life reading and trying to understand Nietzsche's reaslly thaught. It's evident that Heidegger is not the same thinker or person as Nietzsche, but the philosophic core is the same.
> We are here on Earth without any reason (metaphisically), hence it's only WE who have to give a sense at our life (existence) . Nietzsche says: "Become what you are" ! (or: try do develop yourself at the highest level as possible) and Heidegger says : "As humans we have to have a project in life" - without, our existence is nothing more than those of simple animals .
Therefore both were the founder of the EXISTENTIALISM , completed after them by J.P. Sartre.
This said, your comparison Marx/Hegel is totally unfitting because Hegel was a metaphisic thinker, while Marx a totally positivist and atheist philosopher. The following left-wing interpretation of Hegel is totally wrong: Only because of the reason that Hegel was considered the most up-to-date thinker, Marx adopted his dialectic method for his philosophy. But Hegel would have died knowing how Marx perverted his basicly bourgeois and monarchic thaught : he was also salaried by "Friedrich der Grosse" > the direct opposite of Marx !
+marco brenni dude phenomenology arrived on the scene after Nietzsche. Heidegger's philosophy is a profound response to methodological errors within phenomenology. Neitzsche has nothing to do with this! Do you not get this?!
You're dude. Hegel died (1831) far before Nietzsch's birth (1844). Heidegger 's most concern was to understand and to interpretate Nietzsche's thought. He was really obsessed by Nietzsche for all his life. Therefore Hegel, a far overrated fanciful philosopher, was for him a secondary fact
I love Heidegger quote: "The second you are born you are old enough to die."
Pretty sure that's a Kierkegaard quote
This guy know too much
lolz
@@bas8116 YOUR RIGHT.
Serious, what the hell can you gleam from that pearl o wisdom?
Wow. The thoughts here are highly-organized and well-explained. You made Heidegger much more easier to understand. Thanks.
This is what happens when teachers understand their stuff, and see their sole purpose in passing it on to as many people as possible - without the need to hide behind terminology, complicated sentence structures, obscure diagrams, or fancy images. I wish we had teachers like you here in Germany, Eric. And I wish I could have sat in one of your classes.
Keep on keep'n on, Eric.
Such an excellent introduction. The flowing way you link concepts simplifies the subject brilliantly without losing any essence of the ideas. Thank you! I'm very excited to find your videos.
Wow, thanks, Bobby. I'm glad that you're enjoying these videos so much. That makes me happy. I'm working on one on Edmund Husserl now, and it should be done in a week or two... Thanks again for watching. Eric
Eric Dodson Cool, looking forward to it!
I watch this video every morning as soon as I wake up. May God bless you Prof Dodson!
Wow... I'm amazed and gladdened that you're getting so much out of this video. God bless you, too, Nihal. Eric D.
This has been the most helpful explanation of Heidegger that I have come across so far. I have not gotten farther than the intro to Being and Time, but this makes me want to keep reading. Thank you!
+Danni v I agree Danni. Have to remember any book uses words and words are concepts and you cant couch experience conceptually. That's why I also hardly get by the intro. What these great thinkers are attempting to say has to do with abstractions and abstractions come from nothing , and in existentialism nothing is the original face. Concepts explain. Abstractions generate . That is the main distinction .
"You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment. Fools stand on their island of opportunities and look toward another land. There is no other land; there is no other life but this.” - Henry David Thoreau
the more Thoreau I read, the more existentialist he sounds.
You have provided an excellent summary! Thank you: of course, if one's interested, one should look further into Heiddeger's "Time and Being" to see his own dead end alley regarding being.
Heiddeger's problem (which he could never overcome) was trying to tackle the question of Being through highly analytical thought (very much those cathedrals of words in the German tradition, and grandiose metaphysical system-building one finds in Kant, Hegel, Schopengauer, etc.) that made great use of entomology (i.e. Greek roots of words and his approach toward the Pre-Socratic philosophers).
Being (dasein) is our default setting and consciousness is entangled with it: it is, whether we can verbalize it or not, the very thing we are experiencing all the time. If philosophy is born out of wonderment, poetry (this includes our myth making and religious stories) is the deepest expression of Dasein and the end of the line regarding the scope of man's verbal and imaginative capacity.
The Indian Vedas (and the yogic traditions they inspired, including Buddhism) handle the problem of being in terms of enlightenment: that state which goes beyond all thought (and Heiddeger's difficulty is that he's always grounded in words and concepts and is thus the dog chasing it's own tail) and is the experience of pure consciousness: this is known as Advaita non-dualism. I would suggest to anyone interested Ramana Maharishi's "Who am I?" Heiddeger should have read it.
The Indians by dealing only with the subject's direct experience and a state of no-thought were able to overcome a problem (centuries before) Heiddeger approached unsuccessfully through analytical thinking which he finally abbandoned (Time and Being is unfinished) by realizing that poetry was the next step up but hardly the last step (which is purely experiential).
The Vedas are humanity's best attempt to deal with being and consciousness because they point to direct experience (and lead to Being exactly as the "Nameless" - Netineti, in Sanskrit) rather than the laborious, endless and fatiguing mental and word juggling and mazes of German philosophy. Wittgenstein too had the right idea: that about which we can say nothing, we should be silent. In the Vedas, that silence is exactly the emblem of an experience unconveyable through words and concepts. It is Dasein only suggested or evoked through the highest poetry (this Heiddeger got right).
And as K.V. Raghupathi, a wonderful current Indian yogi poet states in a verse from his long poem "Desert Blooms": "No, man is not completed in death." Sorry, Herr Doktor!
I am not a fan of Vedas (although some things they got perfectly right and very early), but sure thing, Heidegger's philosophy is pure bestiality. If animals could talk, they'd report being heideggeian.
Oh my bloody goodness, this was the clearest and most concise summary of Heidegger I have seen yet. Thank you, thank you, thank you for making this, it's so very helpful and informative, clearly superior to any other I have watched thus far. Wow. I'm a stupid 16 year old and I've understood this, finally! You're amazing, thank you again.
Love this video. So relevant in all ways. I had a life perspective shift in 2013 after almost dying due to a perfect storm of rare illness. I gained a weird sort of clarity & lost the anxiety I experienced/suffered for the majority of my life prior. Sort of like...”what was I worried about that stuff for?”. Fantastic content on your channel. I only recently discovered you. Spend a lot of time catching up on the content. Thank you.
ThankYou for this introduction. I've read 'Being and Time' & referred a friend to this video for a good launchpad into Heidegger's work!
6:50
Into this house we're born
Into this world we're thrown
Like a dog without a bone
An actor out on loan
Riders on the storm
Jim Morrison...
Watched at 2x speed. I got Heidegger in 6 minutes.
With chipmunk voice?
If I have to go slower than 1.5 I feel like a Luddite.
😂
I bet your wife is overjoyed with the sex yous have.
It's been some years since this video was published, but I just watching it now I really would like to thank you for this master piece. By far the best summary of Heidegger I've seen so far.
Excellent!...Clear and articulate intro to Heidegger... whom is considered by most to be incomprehensible!
Bravo!
Thanks, fineartist. And thanks for taking the time to watch & comment. Eric
I really enjoyed your lucid summary and use of imagery to reinforce Heidegger's metaphors and analogues. You managed to make much of his thinking simple without it becoming simplistic. Thank you. I hope it encourages others to begin studying his work and thinking about its implications for living in worthwhile ways (and maybe saving the human life on the planet to boot).
+Jed Hopkins I hope so, too. And thanks for watching and taking the time to commend. Eric D.
***** Yeah... but one thing I've discovered in life is that people who make miserable decisions, or who are repugnant characters, can sometimes still speak important, profound truths.
Beautiful exposition.
For what it's worth, I think the serious flaw in his thinking comes in his analysis of imitation and inauthenticity. A great counterpoint is offered by Rene Girard, who shows that imitation is the very way in which human beings are formed and in which relationships and communities are maintained. Heidegger's analysis of care at this level is woefully one-sided and assumes that the only true authenticity is individual and not interpersonal or communal. I would argue, following Girard, that friendship can be a deep expression of authenticity, even though, or perhaps because, it involves imitation of the other. Like Nietzsche, Heidegger seems to be chasing the romantic heroic individual, thus his analysis dismisses other profound forms of authenticity.
My goodness... participated of course... I've just discovered the treasure trove of genius you lay out before us so graciously in a collection of videios. A simple thank you seems so insuffient, but it is heartfelt and an irresistible movement of the spirit of gratitude. Thank you.
Well, thanks, Tom, for your warm, poetic words. In my own life, I've learned not to under-estimate the power of a simple thank-you. In fact, I make these videos in part because of the deep sense of gratitude I feel for people who've taken time & energy to share what they know on UA-cam so openly and so freely. Basically, these videos are one of my ways of trying to give something back to the universe. And so.... let me end by sending a big thank-you to you, too, Tom -- for taking the time to watch & comment... but also for being alive in this world. Eric
Eric Dodson And thank you once again for your gracious reply.
Always struggled to get a good grip on Heidegger. This is one of the best breakdowns I found on him so far!! Great video!
A clear articulation of a difficult subject. Thank you Eric!
Thanks, Sarasa. And thanks for taking the time to watch & comment. Eric
Possibly the best "summary" video I have ever seen. Thank you!
Dr. Dodson... I miss you and W. GA Psychology!!! Thanks for all you do.
Thank you Eric! I now understand Heidegger much more than I did previously. It certainly makes one question ones own authenticity.
Wah, this video is superior to the School of Life one. Good job!
This channel is superior to school of life
but there's no flashy images
school of life is unfortunately not good, but nice animation I guess
Agreed!
School of life = communism
Very clear presentation!!! Great work!
I have to point out (as somebody else did in a post below), that all of Heidegger thoughts are already present in Buddhism, Daoism, Vedanta/Advaïta...etc, and that these "philosophies", have the incomparable advantage to join a praxis to the theory. The main difference is thus, that the body has to be trained to feel and examine in silence to grasp the full spectrum of phenomena (in their physicality-senses /perception/emotionality-ideation/base consciousness). A development of the body's awareness is simultaneous to the exploration of ideas that help understanding the underlying reality. Extreme care is given to this strengthening of the body/mind to be able to flush all of fallenness called the "acquired mind", and liberate the authentic "congenital mind" (Daoist terms). The alignment of Xing (form) and Ming (destiny), happens both in the moment, and in an ever evolving refinement (the art of change). The person who achieve his true potential is called a True person (Zhen Ren)...a person who has achieved the authenticity of being-ness beyond all the dualisms... This constant transformation that returns us to the natural, (uncontrived by inherited/familial and societal conditionings), is the both goal and the path.
Stilling oneself in silence, relaxing and listening, to be....
Amazing video...to the point... understandable....yet solid detail too. NOT reductive. I learned from so much...and in 30 min (has to stop and think a few tines). Saved me so much time . Great job. Good detail.
Hi Eric , i'd just like to say along with many others how useful i found this video . I'm right at the beginning of studying existentialism and its application in therapy. It certainly is a fascinating if not daunting subject. However with this video and other input i hope to make some inroads. My initial impression is that it is a vital and positive philosophy which has personal and universal applications and insights in this complex and sometimes soulless world.
This wonderful, informative brief explanation of Heidegger major themes and philosophy are the best 12 minutes one can spend for an introduction to the philosopher himself.
jon canales Thanks for the warm words, jon. As may be obvious, my whole project here is to make these somewhat dense ideas more accessible to everyone (and not just specialists). And thanks for taking the time to watch! Eric
Ditto: Bravo:) I just sat in on my daughters' class... I was able to catch on because I am familiar with the subject at hand; I know it's going over a lot of students heads! I can't wait for my daughter to listen to the 12 minute video... excellent
I am called Irene Chaliz - Schoenfeld Hi Irene... well that's cool! I'm glad that you were able to get such immediate and relevant benefit from this video! If you're as much of a joker as I am, you might try dropping a few Heideggerian terms into casual conversation with your daughter -- before you tell her about this video.
I guess it wasn't a smart idea to go discover Heidegger at 3am after only having 5 hours of sleep today.
But I see some extremely useful insights and wisdom coming from him, that I can make use..as soon as I sleep and manage to actually grasp them.
I did watch another video which didn't illustrate and "decipher the message" as well as yours did, and even with my minimal cognitive capability I managed to get the overall idea.
All that, just to say "thanks for another great video!" :)
Gabeux Yeah, it's pretty hard to read Heidegger if you haven't had enough sleep. And in the beginning, he's hard to read even if you have had enough. But after a while, you'll probably get used to his idiosyncrasies... and then you'll wonder why you ever had trouble with it. Anyhow... good luck with that adventure. Eric
Excellent introductory video to Heidegger. By all means, no 12 minutes lesson about Heidegger will be 100% complete, but this one gives you that basic understanfing that enables you to comprehend the details on more specific websites
What a fantastic and concise introduction to Heidegger. Thank you very much!
Such a great video! Some of those pics are spectacular 👌🏾. Thank you deeply from my superficial heart to yours
When Heidegger makes you weep with Joy.
Thanks for Be-ing, Eric. Grateful for you🙏🏻
Good summary! The only consolation we have for Heidegger's baneful influence upon philosophical discourse is that his influence has not extended appreciably beyond second year grad school.
Bravo. Excellent introduction / summarization of the central themes of Heidegger’s works. Not an easy task by any mean.
Thanks for 12 valuable, meaningful minutes!
thank you, and i believe you've done a fine job in presenting some of the basic tenants of Heidegger's philosophy. I first read "Being and Time" some 50 years ago as a college student, and I still go back to him occasionally. Increasingly I see to what extent his philosophy is quite similar (and probably influenced by) Eastern traditions of Buddhism
Excellent. I am super impressed how you have managed to explain so many difficult concepts so well in such a short amount of time.
Dear Eric,having read Being and Time (in the Dutch translation) at the beginning of this year, your video helps me understand the book better. Thanks for this video.
Thanks, Frans. I'm glad that this video helped you with Being and Time. I of course had to omit many cool & worthwhile ideas, such as H's famous treatment of "equipmentality," and his analysis of "Being-in as such" (in terms of Befindlichkeit, Verstehen, Rede)... but you have to draw the line somewhere, I guess. Maybe I should make Heidegger, part 2... but I want to do Dostoyevski's Notes from the Underground next... then maybe something on Kierkegaard. Anyhow, thanks for watching, and for taking the time to comment.
Thanks for this. So Heidegger saw one's perception of the world being the only reality worth knowing. So the nature of truth has a lot to do with our perspective, on which perspectives we choose. Our point of view is shaped by how we choose to see the world, and how much one cares about experience, how intensely we experience life, etc. The concept of fallenness is very interesting, how passively are we just receiving life instead of interacting in a vibrant and curious manner. I also plan on reading more about his concept of authenticity and achieving the ideal self. The time to be deeply alive in the moment is now. The fierce urgency of now!
A very useful account of Heidegger's main ideas, which I really appreciated.
I saw the title of this video and I was like, "yeah right?!" but I must say, you did a damn good job! I've been hitting the books hard, trying to get an overview of H., and you come along and do the thing I was trying to do! With cartoons, no less. Nice job.
8:56 "Das Man" could be translated in "The One" -- as in "one has to" / "one can (not)"/ "one should (not)" etc...
Manu Forster Yes, it can, and some people prefer that translation. Another one that you hear sometimes is, "anyone." However, the two major English translations of Being & Time, first by Maquarrie & Robinson, and then by Stambaugh, both translate it as "the they." So that's what I went with in this brief video (you have to cut corners somewhere to pack Heidegger into 12 minutes). Anyhow... thanks for watching. Eric
Video should be called "Being and Time summary in 12 minutes". Heidegger wrote more then one book!
It's than NOT then.
Not quite, I heard some stuff from Heidegger's The Phenomenology of Religious Life and his Onto-Theological Constitution of Metaphysics. Im sure there are more, but this primary source On Bring and Time is the only real book Heidegger wrote and wrote comprehensibly. His other writings are slowly going to be translated because of some weird situation with his wanting notes to be written at a later time
You're right, Alexander, but it's also true that the (still excellent) video didn't get into the theme of the ontological difference, which is a crucial link between the earlier and later works. Nonetheless, by way of agreeing with you I'll say to Flea bitten that explaining Heidegger's work in 12 minutes is perhaps done best by mostly treating Being and Time plus a few ancillary issues that suggest the larger picture, as Dodson has done. Being and Time provides the key to understanding both what Heidegger is getting at in his earliest works and the framework of problems and presuppositions in his later works. Also check out "The Concept of Time" and "The Principle of Reason" for condensed presentations of his earlier and later views, respectively.
i was just listening to audio as the images distracted me... amazing, loved it.
At 8:53 it could be understood the other way round. Throwness includes the concepts of history we didn't write
@Eric Dodson thank you so much for putting up these priceless contents on UA-cam
It inspires to be read and think which people lack in these technological busy life.
Anyone can achieve their fullest potential, who we are might be predetermined, but the path we follow is always of our own choosing. We should never allow our fears or the expectations of others to set the frontiers of our destiny. Your destiny can't be changed but, it can be challenged. Every man is born as many men and dies as a single one.
Martin Heidegger
Couldn't help but notice how, in late capitalist advertising, its general message aggressively purports these quasi-Heideggerian truths about living for oneself, living authentically, being all you can be before you die. Essentially, Das Man is literally telling us to seize our authenticity, all while giving us more subtle forms of living inauthenticity. Would be curious to hear people's takes on this...
yet, the reality is that the 1% do as they will & 1/2 of homosapiens play video games?
Because people who work in ad agencies also read Heidegger. I hope that comes as a surprise.
Better to study Zen first in order to understand Heidegger. IMO he basically attempts to describe zen to (object/duality)-obsessed westerners, but ultimately falls short of illustrating the poetic truth of the Koan. Non-duality is the key to understanding. Listen to Alan Watts and then move on to Suzuki, Rinpoche and Dogen. Then live the koans.
Very well put, you would enjoy Chung-Yuan Chang's book 'Tao: A New Way Of Thinking'. Relates Heidegger to Zen and Tao in the most succinct and sophisticated way I have read.
So was Heidegger himself. He wore a conformist necktie.
in my existentialism course work he was the most difficult to comprehend thanks a lot for making his philosophy accessible. .
This is a perfect description of Goku. Someone needs to examine Dragon Ball Z from an existential perspective.
One of my favorite books is Irrational Man by William Barrett. He does an excellent analysis of Heidegger. His book The Illusion of Technique is another of my favorites. I recommend both to those interested in Existentialism.
This is exceptional. I've had a tendency to reduce "authenticity" to a kind of Rousseuistic "sincerity." Another analogy I've used is the Aristotelian distinction between the "conventional" and the "natural." That is, "nomos" and "phusis." Clearly Heidegger builds upon Aristotle, while destroying him. Or rather the "received" Aristotle. Our embodiment, our socio-economic background--these do shape us. But they do not determine us. Heidegger seems to encourage us to transcend such "environmental factors." That is, if we want to really be free; or, if we really want to do something "original" that is also socially responsible and meaningful. To "dig down deeper into ourselves" might be a Heideggerian approach to our personal lives. As for the man Heidegger, he was, from an early age, literally "stunned" by existence, and thus literally, constantly, WONDERED about it. This aspect of his personality shaped his entire purpose in life. His childlike WONDER. In this sense, he remains an "Aristotelian."
Excellent Eric. Thanks.
I like your clear and straight presentation
This gave me goosebumps. Thank you for such wonderful videos
Thanks, Mstoyor1. It makes me happy that people like you are enjoying them and getting things out of them. Thanks for taking the time to watch, and to comment, too. Eric
excellent video. you explain such difficult comcepts with such ease
It was very quality twelve minutes 💃
Thank you!
I'm struggling grasping the concepts of phenomenology thank you +ericdobson, the world is definitely a better place when people like you share your knowledge, your do not bamboozle or over complicate...just one question, if I am using phenomenology (IPA) as a methodology how in-depth should my knowledge be ?
+Rebecca Lloyd First, you're welcome. Second, I would say that for the purposes of conducting phenomenological research, it's not so important to be conversant in the detailed insights that derive from Heidegger's work (of that of other phenomenologists, such as Husserl, Merleau-Ponty, Sartre, etc.). However, it IS important to understand the general movement of phenomenology -- for instance, the distinction between the natural attitude and the phenomenological attitude, or the idea of hermeneutics. The reason why this is important to, say, IPA, is that without understanding the basic idea of phenomenology's direction, it's difficult to say why doing IPA is important or worthwhile in the first place. Anyhow, that's my opinion. Your results may vary. In any case, good luck with your project. P.S. You may find my video on Husserl and the Adventure of Phenomenology worthwhile. In the second half, I talk a bit about applying phenomenology to psychological research.
Study Zen first in order to understand Heidegger. IMO he basically attempts to describe zen to (object/duality)-obsessed westerners, but ultimately falls short of illustrating the poetic truth of the Koan. Non-duality is the key to understanding. Listen to Alan Watts and then move on to Suzuki, Rinpoche and Dogen. Then live the koans.
"Wilson!!" - Tom Hanks
Thank you for this video, it helped me a lot with studying Heidegger. Now I just have to find a way to translate this in italian for my teachers ahah
His emphasis on the moment is derived from Buddhism. And the term phenomenolgy denotes impermanence...which is also a pillar of Buddhism. Western philosophy gives us an over view of the human condition, which is largely one of suffering and discontent, (which is also Buddhist..dukha) without a viable solution. Existentialism in general suffers from this lack of remedy. Camus tells us to be happy in spite of our misery, (The Myth Of Sisyphus) which is a paradox that has no solution based in reality. Buddhism tells us that because there is no separation between mind and world, and that most of our misery is due to our language based thought processes, coming to the moment through meditation clears our mind and, this is turn, eases our suffering. Heideggar and the other existentialist didn't go far enough. Analyzing the condition is only the first step. There are so many words and so little wisdom...or comfort. That Heideggar joined the Nazis, not only contradicts the fundamental tenants of existentialism, which places so much emphasis on individual freedom and potential, but it's...bizarre in the extreme. Why did he willingly give up his ability to think for himself in favor of letting the Nazis do his thinking. Was this his way of striving for selflessness? I mean losing himself in the herd? It's weird.... I think the fundamental problem with western philosophy is its reliance on language to try and define that which cannot be put into so many words. Language is not rigorous like mathematics. Words, in and of themselves, are very inexact. One word can point in many directions.
'That Heideggar joined the Nazis, not only contradicts the fundamental tenants of existentialism, which places so much emphasis on individual freedom and potential, but it's...bizarre in the extreme.'
I believe that that's addressed at 8:40.
'I always pass on good advice. It is the only thing to do with it. It is never of any use to oneself.'
~ Oscar Wilde
I will have to defend western philosophy here. That “no separation of mind and world” is something already taken seriously by thinkers like Spinoza and Schopenhauer. I admire Buddhism, but it is no less obscure than Heidegger. The way I see it, Buddhism advocates the denial of the self and ascetism, which I agree with. The thing is that it is an impossible ideal for most people, unless you want to be a monk. Buddhism has nothing to add that Christian mysticism, Neoplatonism, Spinoza or Schopenhauer has already cleared out. And I will add that existentialism offers a more realistic and honest view of the human existence than Buddhism, which obscurely and abstractly offers what Schopenhauer more comprehensible sums up in his aesthetics, ethics and ascetics. I admire Buddhism, but I would no say it is more “clear” or “true” than what wester philosophy has discovered.
As someone who has been dancing around Heidegger and his Being and Time , for some time, I find your summary quite excellent.
How do you compare his thought with that of Hegel(also notoriously obscure in his writings), who I feel tackled Being and Non-being as well ?
Great video! I hate School of Life so I am glad videos like this exist. Keep on doing what you're doing!
Great video! I've thought it would be impossible to explain Heidegger in 12 minutes but you teached me wrong. Thank, thank you very much!
BTW: as a German I prefer to hear and read English explaination of Heidegger because translating Heidegger into German makes things more confusing. But of course, I read Heidegger in German.
A wonderfull and stimulating videos about people that understood that philosophy is the most practical subject or discipline in the world, especially ethics. We need to make philosophy more aproachable to people, because in my observation people who don't like philosphy never actually got the chance to understand it and be enthusiastic about it. And videos such as this achieve just this. Olso it the most noble way of using the internet, to spread knowlage and help people to overcome their problems and realize their full potential and live a good life.
P.S: Another such noble chanell is The school of life.
This is actually the most impressive summary of Heidegger I've ever heard.
You might find it interesting that the Asians holding umbrellas in your video aren't waiting for rain -- the women are shielding themselves from the sun (strong cultural desire for fair skin). Also note that many Asian languages have subjects and objects as well (not just European languages).
+Boyd Jones Cool... I didn't know that about the picture. So, in their world, "they" probably say that women shouldn't take too much sun because it'll make them less attractive. And thanks also for the update on Asian languages. I suspected that they probably have subject/object structures, but I've studied only European languages, so I didn't think that I had enough certainty about Asian languages to make a more encompassing claim in the video. Anyhow, thanks for taking the time to watch & comment. Eric D.
Field workers, no matter cotton or rice, have skin marked by the sun. Like bound feet, fair skin is a class/economic signifier.
You're presupposing that the object (i.e. language) is real. It's discourse about the object (within phenomenology) which not only explains it as being subject/object based, but also what constructs the object. Discourse. In other words, theoretical linguistics is a practice within/of a certain ideological Norm that it has to reproduce: the subject/object dichotomy. Norm. Isn't language, above all, about social relations? Linguistics dismisses ideas/historical meaning in order to search for objectivity (for instance, in talking only about forms and functions) precisely because our mode of production (capitalism) needs, more and more, a literal (objectual) 'subject' in order to cope with the contradictory reality of freedom = subject (exploited)/Subject (exploiter) social relations. In this sense, doesn't it help (the system) to have discourse telling you that freedom is about private (free) expression and public (empirical/phenomenological, meaning non-material/historical) knowledge about the world, including the so called 'Human Nature'?
I think having a distinction between subjects and objects is nearly universal in human language.
Noam Chomsky's primary academic contribution is his assertion that subject/object distinction (and some other language fundamentals) are human universals and are probably coded into us at birth. This stands in opposition to earlier ideas (like the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis) that language is entirely learned and that we are tabula rasas at birth.
I love that you used that image from mad men’s intro!!! S1 Ep10 it’s all about this subject 😆
Mr Dodson , this was simply terrific. I.. this will sound funny .. found truth (given philosophical and existential logical acknowledgements) in Thomism, the philosophy of Saint Thomas Aquinas so grounded as you know in Aristotle's moderate realism. I had been told by a philosopher of some substance (forgive the pun) that Aquinas had reduced and obscured being into a propositional object. I thought , and think that criticism far from true, and your excellent .. really excellently presented video has helped me to better understand Heidegger and reinforces my view that he didn't get Plato , or took the medieval philosophical development of Aristotle in some kind of neoplatonic sense. In any case, thank you so much for making our journeys of the mind so beneficial when means to such Aristotelian ends are so beautifully done. We all owe you.
Hmm... I sometimes sense that at the meta-level, philosophical systems always converge more than they diverge -- that in the final analysis their similarities always end up being greater than their differences. The reason for this is that philosophical activity is, in one way or another, always a way of trying to fathom what's really going on. So, I see no problem in principle with gleaning existential insights from Aquinas, even if it's not common to do so. The Judaic theologian Abraham Heschel says it pretty well: "Everything holds the secret." Anyhow... thanks again for watching and for taking the time to comment. Eric
Eric Dodson Hi Eric. Thanks for your comment. Indeed I agree with your Judaic theologian Hesch "Everything holds the secret." That fits with certainly Catholic insight, surely with the Aristo-Thomistic synthesis as efficient , formal and final cause. Cheers Eric and thanks again.
6:51 "being cast" together with a Wilson volleyball - genius haha
great eye
Beautiful summary. Congratulations and thanks a lot.
Great video Eric - thank you. I'm always perplexed that philosophers (meaning those who are actively in the profession of Philosophy such as yourself) have not reached agreements on common axioms grounding philosophy over history - so that progress can be made (I'm referring to David Chalmers video on 'Why Isn't There More Progress in Philosophy?' which can be looked up here on UA-cam).
It would seem that one of the last statements here, "...especially since the indeterminacy of mortality means that no other moments are guaranteed to us" would qualify as an axiom of philosophy. I know you answer questions in your other videos - so I guess I'm asking that specifically - why isn't there more progress in philosophy and what, in your opinion, would be the way to improve that? Are there not a set of common axioms philosophers could ground on and build upon? (I'm on the outside of your profession so I may not be understanding just what philosophical progress means to you). Thanks!
Don Sudduth in my view, there can't be progression in philosophy because history and thinking are contingent. The only neccessary thought that will arise in any philosophy is "I think therefore I am". This is the only neccessary truth in existance. What is being build around this is simply a matter of opinion. And it is rare for humans and so for philosophers to have the same opinion, especially when times and cultures change. That is why nobody todady is still building upon Plato's or Kant's philosophy. We take from history what we like and then form our own idea's. And this is not a linear progression, this is a constant breakdown and buildup of idea's. It's more or less like a feedback loop. Philosophy takes from existing thought what she likes and builds new thought, in turn that new thought becomes the existing thought and it broken down in coherence with the time spirit. Then again a new thought arises. So in some way it is "progressing" but morphing would be a better name. One can't trace a beginning or expect an end, because if philosophy had an end that would mean that one day there would be nothing left to philosophize about, which is unthinkable. This is also why fixed-system builders in philosophy, who treat it like a science, are often criticized.
Richard Lionheart Nah bro
quite interesting but at 4:55 you say "we are radically in the world" What do you mean by that adverb radically ?
This is absolutely great- amazing job! and thank you!!!!
I share this quite often, with positive feedback.
Today I got my favorite critique so far:
“Crisp and useful”
Thought you might appreciate it too, Eric.
+Eric Dodson Thanks for posting this. One bit of feedback: The way you've structured the video, you're asking viewers to split their attention between (a) listening to what you're saying and (b) reading often text-heavy slides of unknown duration and unclear relevance with which your comments do not entirely align. For me, the slides were just a distraction.
Thanks, ncooty, for the feedback. Yeah, I've been debating whether this is the best format for what I'm doing. On one hand, it lets me convey more content because I get to augment what I'm saying with material woven into the visual portions (which is why they aren't always identical). However, as you say, it also risks making too many demands on my viewers' consciousness. After I finish the next video, I'll probably experiment some with including a camera feed of my delivery, perhaps in alternation with the slides. Although I suspect that simply watching me is probably relatively boring, perhaps it would give the viewers a bit of a rest from possible overload. What do you think of that idea? Thanks again for the feedback. Eric D.
+Eric Dodson These are merely the opinions of 1 viewer, but, in response to your question, I suppose it depends on the aim. That is, I presume form would follow function.
1. If you're aiming to present what someone wrote, then you might opt for a Ken Burns approach (narration accompanied by slow zooms on photos + relevant historical or modern film). 2. If you're critically evaluating, you might use metaphors with imagery to suit. 3. Showing your narration might only be fitting if you're presenting your views on a subject; otherwise, you might prefer to be less visible.
In any case, it's generally more fluid (less taxing) if the visual styles are congruent/ continuous throughout a video (similar camera style, same font, same layouts to tables/ graphs, similar relevance of colors, etc.), or that a change of visual style correlates with a change in tone or perspective of the narration (e.g., famously: between black-and-white and color in "The Wizard of Oz"). Otherwise, it's a bit of a jostle.
If you do expect viewers to read a slide, pause to let them do it and either (a) give an indication of timing (e.g., a visual or musical cue, such as the end of a musical piece) or (b) always give more than enough time to read, especially if the content is dense.
Of course, you presumably also have a life outside of editing videos for your UA-cam channel... and you're certainly under no obligation to appease the sensibilities of opinionated twits such as I. :)
Wow, many thanks for the detailed reply. Your suggestions are really useful to me as I try to make my way through the thickets of an unfamiliar medium. Yes, it's probably obvious that I'm just a very amateur UA-cam™ hobbyist. But I am interested in improving the accessibility and appeal of my presentations, especially in ways that don't generate mountains of extra labor for me.
Yes, I agree that in this instance, it's best for form to follow function. In my earlier videos (such as this one), I was trying to invite viewers into a domain of thought in the quickest way possible... which naturally led toward compressing as much material into each minute as possible (which in turn led to the kind of perceptual-overload you're noticing). In my more recent videos, I'm taking a somewhat more expansive approach, which has perhaps ameliorated some of the difficulties you're describing. Of course, this then runs the risk of taxing viewers' patience during videos that are about twice as long. Anyhow, I'd definitely be interested in hearing your feedback of one of my more recent efforts, if you're so inclined. But, if not, that's okay, too.... you've already helped me a lot. In any case, thanks for the great responses! Gratefully, Eric D.
I have read the comments by ncooty, and understand that his suggestions may make your video more didactic . But... I loved the way the images complemented/ questioned what was being said. Two dialogs at the same time. I found this informative, stimulation and creative. I abhor going to lectures and seeing on the slides ( datashow) exactly what is being said by the speaker. Anyway, just my opinion.... The richness of your material made me watch it twice and use the 'pause' button once in a while to resolve the questionable ' problem' of ' text-heavy slides". By the way the umbrellas , obviously, did not represent the coming of rain, since the sky is a bright blue. It was symbolic. Still they are umbrellas. I aso liked that touch... It made me think. Thanks for the great video!
Fantastic introduction. Thank you
I like to think the one phrase that kind of sums of Heidegger (if that's even possible) is that we are "always already." Well, it at least sums up his idea of "throwness" that you explained so well
Nicholas H Yeah, that phrase does seem to capture a lot. As I recall, it was also a favorite of Derrida.
Excellent exposition. Thank you!
Excellent Video, very informative and clear. Keep up the great work!!!!
Great video. Thanks.
Thank you for wonderful video Eric. I had read that between past, present, and future Heidegger considers “future” the most vital as it somehow unfolds or “gives direction” to the present! I wonder if you ever came across something like that?
Excellent. Thank you.
Sorry for the excessive comments but THIS WAS AMAZING.
I know more about phenomenology (as understood post-Husserl) in general--and not so much about that--than about Heidigger in particular. But in relation to the little I know about either, I feel the 12 minutes I spent with you I spent well . Thanks. (I notice that one image that flashed on screen showed two English translations of "Being and Time," the 2nd from 1996. Which translation, if either, would you recommend?
I feel like I've been blessed
Hey Eric Dodson. At 10:21, where did you get that picture of the skull, violin, and books? Do you know the name of that painting?
Jonathan Yelverton
it's a william michael harnett, "mortality and immortality"
Thank you very much! You have been extraordinary clear in you explanation!
"I dwell, you dwell. The way in which you are and I am, the manner in which we humans are on earth, is buan, dwelling. to be a human being means to be on the earth as a mortal"
Great video, very helpful. Thanks!
To the significance of a philosopher's biography he said in 1924 at a lecture on Aristotle referring to what Plato says in "The Sophist" (Stephanus, 246d): "Bei der Persönlichkeit eines Philosophen hat nur das Interesse: Er wurde dann und dann geboren, er arbeitete und starb," which would translate as follows: "The only topic of interest in the life of a philosopher is the fact the he was born and worked and died." And the point is clear: it seems fair to look into the mind of the philosopher by examining what he says and thinks disregarding his circumstances of his political involvement - rather than to make prejudiced opinions FOR or AGAINST his philosophy without even having read and understood his thought.
Thanks, this is an excellent breakdown of his philosophy
Informative, thought provoking and very well spoken! Thanks for the wonderful video and sharing :) I have no idea if this is in anyway accurate as I have not read Heidegger yet- I guess I'm taking on reading Being and Time next errrr sounds tough lol
Redwoodization Thanks... just a word of caution about reading Heidegger. He can be pretty intimidating, at least at first -- especially if you're not particularly used to reading phenomenology. So, if you're going to dig into Being & Time, it might be helpful to have one of the secondary explanatory texts close by. Just a thought. Anyhow, good luck with the adventure! Eric
Nice video, thank you. If Heidegger thought no one had undergone an exstensive examination of being, what did he think of Husserl's work? Wasn't Husserl trying to do the same thing?
He was Husserl’s student, lol
The Chinese held the umbrella for being away from the sun, not to be ready for raining.
Perfect. Very good introduction. Congratulations!
Thanks, Rogerio, and thanks for watching and commenting! Eric