“What is the meaning of being?” This is the central question of Martin Heidegger’s profoundly important work, in which the great philosopher seeks to explain the basic problems of existence. A central influence on later philosophy, literature, art, and criticism—as well as existentialism and much of postmodern thought—Being and Time forever changed the intellectual map of the modern world. As Richard Rorty wrote in the New York Times Book Review, “You cannot read most of the important thinkers of recent times without taking Heidegger’s thought into account.”

This first paperback edition of John Macquarrie and Edward Robinson’s definitive translation also features a new foreword by Heidegger scholar Taylor Carman.

“Powerful and original . . . Being and Time changed the course of philosophy.” (Richard Rorty, New York Times Book Review)

“The masterpiece of the greatest philosopher of the 20th Century. He transforms our sense of the world from that of a burdensome given to a miracle.” (The Week, November 2008)