ABSTRACT
Martin Heidegger was born on 26 September 1889 in the village of Messkirch in southern Germany. Heidegger's thought has had repercussions throughout the intellectual world, having influenced fields as diverse as literary theory, theology, architecture, political theory and cognitive science. Before considering Heidegger's relevance to environmental thought, one must first get to grips with some basic features of his analysis of the human condition. Heidegger claims that Being is essentially historical in the sense that different things reveal themselves in different historical epochs. Heidegger attributes to technology the peculiar and 'dangerous' power to 'drive out' all other ways of revealing. Elsewhere, Heidegger offers a series of meditations on the nature of a non-technological way of life he calls 'dwelling'. Rather, the experience of Heidegger's dweller combines a realization of wholeness with an appreciation of the inherent worth of individual things. Heidegger died on 26 May 1976 and was buried in the churchyard of his beloved Messkirch.
