ABSTRACT
Philosophical speculation on the nature of Being is known as ontology. Martin Heidegger initiated a radical 'thinking' distinct from conventional forms of 'philosophizing' that cast doubt on the validity of the fundamental basis of Western philosophy. He saw the history of Western philosophy as rooted in a 'forgetting of Being' that has resulted in a gradual disintegration of values, insatiable consumerism and technological domination of the earth. According to Heidegger, Plato and all philosophers who came after him made the grave mistake of adopting a 'theoretical stance' for their interpretation of Being. Heidegger's ontology in Being and Time was a revolution, because it established an entirely new way of thinking, radically different from all previous systems of ontological thinking. A fundamental motive behind his questioning of Being is his wish to overcome this condition of nihilism, which he believed to be the most destructive force on this planet.
