ABSTRACT
The issue of death is central to understanding Heidegger’s lifelong enquiry into the ‘meaning of Being’. For Heidegger, however, death does not constitute a subject in itself and it would be wrong to say he developed a philosophy about death. Yet understanding his view of death is nevertheless the key to understanding Heidegger’s philosophy of Being. Moreover this cannot be done without also understanding the connection between death and nothingness. In understanding this connection, and the connection between nothingness and Being, we come to see the way in which understanding the meaning of Being, and with it metaphysics, itself depends upon an authentic grasp of death.
