Søren Kierkegaard (1813-1855)
<> Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard is generally acknowledgedMartin Heidegger (1889-1976)
Being and Time
(first German edition
1927)
Two translations into English:
John Macquarrie &
Edward Robinson
(New York: Harper & Row,
1962)
589 pages
(ISBN:
(Library of Congress call number: B3279.H48S43 1962a)
Joan Stambaugh
(Albany, NY: State University of New York
Press, 1996) 487 pages
(ISBN: 0-7914-2677-7; hardcover)
(ISBN: 0-7914-2678-5; paperback)
(Library of Congress call number: B3279.H48S43
1996)
For many years, this
book was said to be "untranslatable"
because of the extreme difficulty of Heidegger's
language,
including the number of new expressions
and new uses of old words that he introduces.
The careful reader will benefit from reading
both of these translations.
But if you must choose only one,
use the Macquarrie and Robinson
version.
John Macquarrie might be the foremost Heidegger scholar in the world.
The Macquarrie and Robinson translation conveys
the meaning of Heidegger
into English better than the Stambaugh translation.
But the Stambaugh translation is easier to
read in English
because she has avoided creating new technical
expressions in English
for the more difficult of Heidegger's concepts.
However, some of Stambaugh's choices are
simply puzzling.
For example, why is the expression
usually translated as "beings-in-the-world"
sometimes rendered by Stambaugh as "innerworldly
beings"?
No matter what translation
one uses,
Heidegger remains a very difficult philosopher
to read.
I recommend giving a careful
reading only
to those parts
that the reader finds meaningful.
The other parts can be left to the
professional
philosophers.
For example, some parts of this
book
deal with the question of being
as such,
which Heidegger says is central to
his philosophy.
But here Being and Time
is being reviewed as a book of existentialism.
Now that I have read
both translations carefully and aloud,
I have decided to adopt a new practice for
my own references to B&T:
I have created my own paraphrases,
drawing
on both translations.
This practice makes Heidegger
more accessible to the
English-speaking reader.
Scholars can read the German original
and all translations they find helpful.
The beginning reader
of Heidegger
should probably not try to read this book
by beginning at page one and attempting to
read thru to the end.
Such an approach will probably cause you
to give up too soon.
Read first the parts that seem most interesting
to you.
These best parts are worth many readings
in any case.
Then go back to pick up the parts your skipped
if you are still interested.
If you can't understand
Heidegger by reading him directly,
read some other books about
Heidegger
first.
Once you have the proper orientation and
conceptual framework,
you may find Heidegger a rich mine
of new insights into human existence.
Heidegger will be
studied and studied
as long as there are humans who
can think.
Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980)
French philosopher Jean-Paul
Sartre's Being and Nothingness
is easier to understand than Heidegger's Being and
Time.
And because Sartre also wrote plays, essays,
and literary criticism,
there are many ways to approach his thought.
Being and Nothingness is a
long book,
but the careful reader will find
many hours
of stimulating reading here.
James Leonard Park (1941- )
American existential
philosopher James Park is still mostly unknown,
but his major work, Our Existential
Predicament:
Loneliness, Depression, Anxiety,
&
Death,
might eventually stand alongside Being
and
Time (1927)
and Being and Nothingness
(1942)
as a major original contribution to existential
thinking.
If so, it will be the
first original book in existential philosophy in 50 years.
It has the distinct advantage over the books
mentioned above
that it was written originally in English.
Therefore (for the reader of existential
philosophy in English),
there are none of the translation and interpretation
problems
encountered in Kierkegaard, Heidegger, &
Sartre.
Complete information about
Our
Existential Predicament:
Loneliness, Depression,
Anxiety, & Death
will be found at this URL:
https://s3.amazonaws.com/aws-website-jamesleonardpark---freelibrary-3puxk/XP.html
Another book of existential philosophy by James Park is:
Becoming
More
Authentic:
The Positive Side of Existentialism.
Besides explaining and illustrating this central concept of
Existentialism,
this book deals with Authentic Existence as described by:
Kierkegaard, Heidegger, Sartre, Camus, & Maslow.
See a related
bibliography:
Books
on
Authenticity.
Becoming
More
Authentic:
The Positive Side of Existentialism
Looking
for the
Meaning of Life
Return to the EXISTENTIALISM
page.
Go to the Book
Review Index
to discover 350 other reviews
organized into 60 bibliographies.
Go to
the beginning of this website
James
Leonard Park—Free
Library