Heidegger's Being and Time: Paraphrased and Annotated, Volume 1

by Thomas Sheehan, Richard Polt (Editor), Gregory Fried (Editor)

Overview

This important new book condenses and rephrases, paragraph by paragraph, the entirety of Heidegger's magnum opus Being and Time.

Leading Heidegger scholar Thomas Sheehan renders the text in reader-friendly language that avoids the worst of the Heideggerese that persists in the wider scholarship. He helpfully outlines each of the six chapters and, in turn, each of the eighty-three individual sections of the book, providing a critical and insightful commentary that draws on Heidegger's comments on Being and Time throughout his career. The book also includes commentary and guidance on the terminology, scope, arguments, achievements, and limitations of Being and Time. This reader's guide is an essential resource for students, scholars and anyone engaging with Heidegger's complex work.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781786613417
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	05/06/2025
Series:	New Heidegger Research
Edition description:	Annotated
Pages:	456
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.40(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Thomas Sheehan is Professor of religious studies at Stanford University and Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at Loyola University Chicago, USA.

Richard Polt is Professor of Philosophy at Xavier University, Cincinnati, USA.

Gregory Fried is Professor of Philosophy at Suffolk University, Boston, USA.

Table of Contents

Foreword
Preface
Acknowledgments
Abbreviations
I.
THE PARAPHRASE

Heidegger's Preface to the Seventh Edition (1953)
The Untitled Exergue (1927)
General Introduction to the Whole of Being and Time

THE QUESTION OF HOW BEING IS UNDERSTOOD


Chapter 1: The necessity, structure, and priority of this question
§1 Necessity: the need to reopen this question
§2 Structure: formulating the question
§3 The ontological priority of ex-sistence
§4 The ontic priority of ex-sistence

Chapter 2: The two-fold task, the method, and the outline of Being and Time
§5 SZ I: Fundamental ontology
§6 SZ II: Dismantling the history of ontology
§7 Method: Phenomenology
§8 Outline of the book

SZ, PART ONE
FUNDAMENTAL ONTOLOGY

DIVISION ONE: THE PREPARATORY ANALYSIS OF EX-SISTENCE
Preface to SZ I.1
Chapter 1: The task of a preparatory analysis of ex-sistence
§9 Introduction to the analysis of ex-sistence
§10 Ex-sistential analysis vs. other approaches
§11 So-called “primitive ex-sistence” and the need for “a natural conception of meaning”

Chapter 2: Involved in meaning
§12 Our involvement in meaning: a preliminary sketch
§13 Subject-object thinking

Chapter 3: The meaning-giving world
§14 Introduction
Subdivision A:The practical world of meaning
§15 How we encounter useful things
§16 How a world of praxis shows up
§17 Signs: A special kind of useful thing
§18 The structure of a world of praxis

Subdivision B:Descartes' interpretation of “world”
Preface
§19 Descartes: The being of material things is extension in space
§20 Descartes: The “world” is comprised of extended substances
§21 Descartes' ontology of “world”: a hermeneutical discussion

Subdivision C: The spatiality of worlds of praxis and of ex-sistence
Preface
§22 The spatiality of useful things
§23 The spatiality of ex-sistence
§24 The spatiality of the world and of ex-sistence. The ontology of space

Chapter 4Who I am in everyday living
Preface
§25 The question of who I usually am
§26 Sociality: my own and that of other people
§27 My crowd-self

Chapter 5: Involvement as such
§28 Involvement itself (In-Sein): An overview
Subdivision A: The field of intelligibility: its ex-sistential structure
§29 Affect holds open intelligibility
§30 Fear is a mode of affect
§31 Aheadness holds open intelligibility
§32 Working out the projectedmeaning
§33 Declarative sentences
§34 Ex-sistence as logos

Subdivision B: The field of intelligibility: its absorbed modes
Preface
§35 Casual talk
§36 Curiosity
§37 Ambiguity
§38 Absorption and movement

Chapter 6: Ex-sistence as engaged
§39 Introduction to ex-sistence as a unified whole
§40 Experiencing ex-sistence through dread
§41 Engaged in making sense
§42 A fable about cura
§43 Realness
§44 Ex-sistence and “truth”


II.
THE ANNOTATIONS
Heidegger's Preface to the Seventh Edition (1953)
The Untitled Exergue (1927)
General introduction to the whole of Being And Time: The question of how being it understood
Chapter 1: The necessity, structure, and priority of this quesrtion
§1 Necessity: the need to reopen this question
§2 Structure: formulating the question
§3 The ontological priority of ex-sistence
§4 The ontic priority of ex-sistence
Chapter 2: The two-fold task, the method, and the outline of Being and Time
§5 SZ I: Fundamental ontology
§6 SZ II: Dismantling the history of ontology
§7 Method: henomenology
§8 Outline of the book

SZ, PART ONE: FUNDAMENTAL ONTOLOGY
Division One: The Preparatory Analysis of Ex-Sistence
Preface to SZ I
Chapter 1: The task of a preparatory analysis of ex-sistence
§9 Introduction to the analysis of ex-sistence
§10 Ex-sistential analysis vs. other approaches
§11 So-called “primitive ex-sistence” and the need for “a natural conception of meaning”
Chapter 2: Ex-sistence is involved in meaning
§12 Our involvement in meaning: a preliminary sketch
§13 Subject-object thinking
Chapter 3: The meaning-giving world
§14 Introduction
Subdivision A: Practical worlds of meanings
§15 Useful things
§16 How a world of praxis shows up
§17 Signs: A special kind of useful thing
§18 The structure of a world of praxis
Subdivision B: Descartes' interpretation of “world”
Preface
§19 Descartes: The being of material things is extension in space
§20 Descartes: The “world” is comprised of extended substances
§21 Descartes' ontology of “world”: A hermeneutical discussion
Subdivision C: The spatiality of worlds of praxis and of ex-sistence
Preface
§22 The spatiality of useful things
§23 The spatiality of ex-sistence itself
§24 The spatiality of the world and of ex-sistence. The ontology of space

Chapter 4Who I am in everyday living
Preface
§25 The question of who I usually am
§26 Sociality: my own and that of other people
§27 My crowd-self

Chapter 5: Involvement as such
§28 Involvement itself (In-Sein): An overview
Subdivision A: The field of intelligibility: its ex-sistential structure
§29 Affect holds open intelligibility
§30 Fear is a mode of affect
§31 Aheadness holds open intelligibility
§32 Working out the projected meaning
§33 Declarative sentences
§34 Ex-sistence as logos
Subdivision B: The field of intelligibility: its absorbed modes
Preface
§35 Casual talk
§36 Curiosity
§37 Ambiguity
§38 Absorption and movement
Chapter 6: Ex-sistence as engaged
§39 Introduction to ex-sistence as a unified whole
§40 Experiencing ex-sistence through dread
§41 Engaged in making sense
§42 A fable about cura
§43 Realness
§44 Ex-sistence and “truth”

APPENDICES

Bibliographies
1. Heidegger's German Texts and Their English Translations 307
1.1 Texts within the Gesamtausgabe
1.2 Texts outside the Gesamtausgabe
2. Other Texts Cited

Terminology
German to English
English to German

Index

Editorial Reviews

Sheehan's invaluable 'paraphrase' pays rigorous attention to the text, its time, and Heidegger's commitment to phenomenology. Even more important is Sheehan's interpretation of Heidegger's question of being as the question of intelligibility, the way things mean or matter to us. I know no more helpful guide to Heidegger's masterpiece.” —Robert B. Pippin, Evelyn Stefansson Nef Distinguished Service Professor, University of Chicago, USA, and author of The Culmination: Heidegger, German Idealism, and the Fate of Philosophy

“Thomas Sheehan's monumental study of Being and Time includes a paraphrase that eschews Heideggerian jargon; a copiously annotated commentary; and an argument about sense-making. Beginners will relish the illuminating paraphrase; scholars will benefit from the erudite annotations; and anyone will benefit from engaging with the argument. Comprehensive, congenial, controversial: unavoidable.” —Steven Crowell, Mullen Professor of Humanities and Professor of Philosophy, Emeritus, Rice University, USA

“Thoughtful and judicious as only the product of more than a half-century of nonpareil, often contrarian interpretations of Germany's most controversial philosopher can be, Sheehan's work is a genuine 'guide for the perplexed,' immediately becoming the go-to resource for anyone trying to come to grips with Heidegger's timeless masterpiece.” —Daniel O. Dahlstrom, John R. Silber Professor of Philosophy, Boston University, USA

“Thomas Sheehan's book is a tour de force, an ingenious reading of Heidegger's Being and Time that in effect translates Heidegger's difficult German into a section-by-section paraphrase. Drawing on decades of teaching and research, Sheehan's text gives you the sense of attending an incisive seminar given by a master teacher.” —Lawrence J. Hatab, Louis I. Jaffe Professor of Philosophy Emeritus, Old Dominion University, USAy

From the Publisher

Sheehan’s invaluable 'paraphrase' pays rigorous attention to the text, its time, and Heidegger’s commitment to phenomenology. Even more important is Sheehan’s interpretation of Heidegger’s question of being as the question of intelligibility, the way things mean or matter to us. I know no more helpful guide to Heidegger’s masterpiece.

Robert B. Pippin

Thomas Sheehan’s book is a tour de force, an ingenious reading of Heidegger’s Being and Time that in effect translates Heidegger’s difficult German into a section-by-section paraphrase. Drawing on decades of teaching and research, Sheehan’s text gives you the sense of attending an incisive seminar given by a master teacher.

Lawrence J. Hatab

Thoughtful and judicious as only the product of more than a half-century of nonpareil, often contrarian interpretations of Germany’s most controversial philosopher can be, Sheehan’s work is a genuine 'guide for the perplexed,' immediately becoming the go-to resource for anyone trying to come to grips with Heidegger’s timeless masterpiece.

Daniel O. Dahlstrom

Thomas Sheehan’s monumental study of Being and Time includes a paraphrase that eschews Heideggerian jargon; a copiously annotated commentary; and an argument about sense-making. Beginners will relish the illuminating paraphrase; scholars will benefit from the erudite annotations; and anyone will benefit from engaging with the argument. Comprehensive, congenial, controversial: unavoidable.

Steven Crowell