Martin Heidegger (1889 – 1976) is one of the essential philosophers of the 20th century. Born in Messkirch, Germany, he studied Catholic theology, natural sciences and philosophy at the University of Freiburg, and developed philosophical theories that influenced various scientific and academic disciplines.

Together with Ludwig Wittgenstein, Heidegger is considered one of the most important thinkers of the last century.

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Famous quotes from Martin Heidegger

In this article we will go into the thoughts and reflections of this German philosopher through a journey through the best phrases of Martin Heidegger . Concepts such as “Dasein” are the leitmotif of a philosophical work at the level of very few.

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1. Transcendence constitutes individuality.

An ambiguous phrase from his work “Being and Time”.

2. Anguish is the fundamental disposition that places us before nothing.

A psychological reflection on anguish and its gaze into the infinite void.

3. The human body is something essentially different from an animal organism.

In this sentence by Martin Heidegger we discover his anthropocentric positioning.

4. Very soon television, in order to exercise its sovereign influence, will run through all the machinery and all the hustle and bustle of human relations.

As George Orwell would say, the media makes us prisoners of hegemonic thought. A premonitory reflection by the German philosopher.

5. Roads, not works.

Thought to be freely interpreted by the reader.

6. Mortals dwell in so far as they receive the sky as their heaven; in so far as they let the sun and moon go on their journey, the stars their route, the seasons their blessing and their injury; in so far as they do not turn night into day and make the day a race without rest.

Here he shows us the fragility of human action. In acceptance is the way.

7. The distinctive feature of metaphysical thinking -which seeks the foundation of the entity- is that, starting from the present, it represents it in its presence and shows it, from its foundation, as founded.

A look at the current of metaphysical thought.

8. Philosophy implies a free mobility of thought, it is a creative act that dissolves ideologies.

Thinking and reflection quickly destroy apriorisms and dogmas.

9. The true, whether a true thing or a true proposition, is that which agrees, that which is concordant.

Defining the truth in a nutshell.

10. Poeticism is properly letting people live. Now, by what means do we come to have a dwelling? By building. Poeticizing, like letting people live, is building.

Whoever writes poetry builds a shelter for his own conscience.

11. Singing and thinking are the close trunks of poetry. They grow from being and rise up to touch their truth.

Another line from Heidegger about poetry.

12. He who thinks big has to make a big mistake.

Large projects also involve large risks.

13. Man’s common sense has its own necessity; it affirms its legitimacy with the only weapon available to it, namely, the invocation of the “obvious” of its aspirations and reflections.

Sometimes, the concept of “common sense” can be a way of legitimizing “normal” projects and desires.

14. Everything big is in the middle of the storm.

There is no triumph without sacrifices and permanent obstacles.

15. When time is only rapidity, instantaneousness and simultaneity, while the temporal, understood as a historical event, has disappeared from the existence of all peoples, then, precisely then, the questions will again cross this whole coven like ghosts: what for, where to, and then what?

Is there an “end” to the history of the development of our societies?

16. The great tragedy of the world is that it does not cultivate memory, and therefore forgets the teachers.

Forgetting the past condemns us to make mistakes again and again.

17. Nothing can be proved in the realm of thought; but thought can explain many things.

Heidegger’s great reflection on the limitations and potentialities of rational thought.

18. The oldest of the old comes from behind to our thinking and yet it is ahead of us. That is why thinking stops at the appearance of what was, and is memory.

About the paradox of memories and experience.

19. The Arts become manipulated and manipulative instruments of information.

Because of the media and hegemonic thinking, even the artistic disciplines tend to homogenize and standardize their forms and contents.

20. There is only a world where there is language.

A philosophical phrase that disposes language as a creator of realities, according to Martin Heidegger.