Resolution to Read in April: Spring Cleaning

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For the month of April the theme for Realizing Resonance is Spring Cleaning! This really just means that rather than have a particular topic I am going to be posting on a hodgepodge of things. This is a way for me to do some real spring cleaning, both literally and figuratively. My condo needs my attention and I also need to catch up on some other things, so April will be the month where I publish a selection of old unpublished essays of mine. Also in the spirit of spring cleaning I am going to finish reading some books that I started but have yet to complete. I still need to finish The Fountainhead, by Ayn Rand, Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy by Joseph Schumpeter, and Ethics by Baruch Spinoza. There are a few other books that I am itching to finish as well, but there is one in particular that I am intent on finishing more than any other.

So my Resolution to Read for April is….

Being and Time by Martin Heidegger

And

Heidegger’s Temporal Idealism by William D. Blattner

I have already completed “Division One: Preparatory Fundamental Analysis of Dasein” in Being and Time, but it was an extremely grueling read. Heidegger is incredibly difficult to understand and while reading “Division One” I supplemented my learning with the book How to Read Heidegger by Mark Wrathall, plus I listened to hours of podcasts, audio books, and even an entire Berkley course available on the web about the book, which is taught by the Heideggerian Philosopher Hubert Dreyfus. That is why I waited so long to dive into “Division Two: Dasein and Temporality”. In order to grasp Heidegger better I am going to supplement my reading once again, this time with Heidegger’s Temporal Idealism, by William Blattner.

Being and Time is considered one of the most important Philosophical works on the 20th Century, and it has inspired a string of Existentialist thinkers such as Jean-Paul Sartre and Michel Foucault. Given that I am still working out my own grasp of Heidegger I am going to avoid describing his book for now for fear I will look back at my statements later and cringe. However, if I have peaked your curiosity and you would like to get a better idea of what Heideggerian Philosophy is all about, watch this trailer for the documentary Being in the World: