ABSTRACT
Martin Heidegger, although he was not a student of Husserl's was influenced by Husserl's philosophy. He studied Husserl's major works and worked as his assistant from 1920 to 1923 at the University of Freiburg in Germany. Yet, if you compare Husserl's monumental work, Logical Investigations, with Heidegger's most important book, Being and Time, you will notice that they differ like day and night. Husserl writes in the style of the great philosophers from Plato to Descartes. Heidegger reads like nothing you have ever come across before. Husserl treats the history of philosophy with respect. Heidegger constantly complains that nobody else has seen the philosophical problems in the right light, that nobody has asked the really important questions, that philosophers have neglected the real issues, etc. There is the claim, in short, that for two thousand years or so, philosophers had lost their way. Heidegger, of course, will lead them back to the proper path. Much of Heidegger's fame and notoriety stems from this claim. We shall therefore begin by taking a look at Heidegger's conception of philosophy.
