Martin Heidegger

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses the theories of Martin Heidegger which he presented in a book called "Being and Time." The paper describes his theories of nothingness and human "dread" and compares them to Deepak Chopra's similar quantum physics theories. The paper describes the basic meaning of the theories and concludes that had Heidegger possessed Chopra's gift for simplifying language, his concepts of nothingness might have been recognized sooner.

From the Paper:

"Heidegger's theory of human "dread" is interestingly at the core of what he believes to be our deep-seated awareness of "nothing." The fact that humans are deeply aware that we will perish into nothing is what gives defineable value to our human experience. In other words, while we know consciously that everything in our human world will change and die, we also know that this concept does not apply to a world of nothing. Heidegger evidently had no faith in the possibility of an afterlife that might include any thing relative to our human existence. In his view, the inescapable loss of somethingness is at the bottom of the human "angst." (Philosophypages)."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Chopra, Deepak, The Spontaneous Fulfillment of Desire, Random House, NY: 2003.
• Philosophypages.com, "Martin Heidegger, 1889-1976) www.philosophypages.com/ph/heid.htm, Accessed 04/05/06
• Wikipedia.com, "Martin Heidegger" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Heidegger, Accessed 04/04/06.

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