Being and Time: Week 1 Guide

How to start Being and Time on the right foot...

Dear Dasein,

I am publishing this guide to help you prepare for our study of Being and Time.

With a text as difficult and easily misunderstood as Being and Time, it is absolutely critical that we adopt the appropriate approach and start off with the right expectations, assumptions, and warnings.

My first warning to you is this:

This study will be a bit like sailing.

In order to sail it is necessary to do quite a bit of preparatory work — equipment checks, studying the weather, tying knots, untying knots, etc.

But my promise to you is this.

If you put in the time and energy necessary to safely launch into the open ocean, eventually you will be able to sail with this text and enjoy the intellectual thrill that comes with it.

I truly believe your life will never be the same if you are able to understand the key insights contained within it.

Like I said in my video lecture on Heidegger’s philosophical project, what we are receiving here is a new way of seeing — a new kind of truth.

Ready?

Let’s go.