Being and Time

By: Martin Heidegger

Narrated by: Martyn Swain, Taylor Carman

Length: 23 hrs and 18 mins

Publisher's summary

In his lucid introduction to this recording, Professor Taylor Carman declares unequivocally that Being and Time by Martin Heidegger (1889-1976) is ‘one of the great masterpieces of 20th century philosophy.’ And that is despite the fact that it is unquestionably a challenging listen. But by placing it in its historical context - the key work on existentialism between Søren Kierkegaard (1813-1855) and Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980) - it becomes much easier to approach. 

As Professor Carman explains, ‘Being and Time addresses a seemingly simple question: What does it mean to be?’ As far as we know, human beings are the only existing things ‘with an understanding of what it is for something to exist’ and, furthermore, are aware of their own existence. Heidegger chose the German word Dasein - existence: literally ‘being there’ - instead of more common expressions such as man, human being, soul, consciousness, etc. And he embarks upon his investigation, considering ‘being there in-the-world, in time (past, present, future); discussing ‘authentic’ and ‘inauthentic’ living and dying; and the acceptance of impermanence. ‘Dasein’s existence is pervaded by a primordial kind of anxiety (Angst)’, Carman remarks, but points out that the concept of care is central to Heidegger’s view: ‘to be a human being is to care about something’. 

Being and Time was published in 1927 during the Weimar period in Germany, a time of political, social and economic turmoil. Heidegger himself did not escape the pressures, and his nationalism and undeniable anti-Semitism in the following decades cast a shadow over the man, but not the work. Being and Time is not coloured by expressions of his later views (unlike other writings) and remains an outstanding document. 

This recording opens with Professor Carman reading his introduction. Being and Time is read by Martyn Swain. 

Translation: John Macquarrie and Edward Robinson. 

The contents - showing the plan of the work - and the full text of the introduction are available on a PDF for download with this recording.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio. 

©1967 Wiley Blackwell (P)2020 Ukemi Productions Ltd

Surprised it works as audio

It actually makes more sense when you listen to it.

The highest-rated philosophy book on Goodreads.

People who are more into the arts or sciences who want to dip their toes into some fun relevant philosophical stuff: this book is a fun and rewarding "big idea" to wrap your head around. He’s like an ancient philosopher who has one big idea and he’s just cashing it out again and again. His approach is supposed to be simple and practical (not abstract, Heidegger is rejecting abstraction in favor of something more worldly, familiar and everyday).

Here's an opinion to help you understand what this book is about: 'being' in this book refers to the meaningful presence of things in the world of human concerns. As an entry point, this book is about how stuff in the world shows up for us as meaningful things.

Dasein is just a fancy way of pointing out: people are always in some kind of situation where we're conforming or rejecting social-historical norms and physical conditions that we find ourselves surrounded by. We're absorbed in activities in the world (like hammering a nail) in a way that's embodied and familiar. Heidegger's approach is a rejection of purely cognitive or exclusively psychological approaches to describing humans. Heidegger's starting point for talking about humans is a way around falling into explanatory traps like mind-body dualism and subject-object dualism. We're not brains that are computing the world like a machine. We're care. We give a sh*t.

If you need help: the classic Hubert Dreyfus lectures on Archive dot org follow along with this translation. The documentary movie "Being-in-the-World" attempts to cover the basics of this book. And the podcast "Partially Examined Life" and "Entitled Opinions" have multiple episodes that introduce and discuss Heidegger's philosophy. "Heidegger: Very Short Introduction" and "At the Existentialist Cafe" and the new "Time of the Magicians" (2020) are good secondary sources (all also on Audible). I don't like George Steiner's book.

For accessible contemporary "applied" versions of the ideas explored in this book (also on Audible): "Phenomenology of Dance" (Sheets-Johnstone) and "Out of Our Heads" (Alva Noe) and "The World Beyond Your Head" (Crawford) and "Sensemaking" (Madsbjerg) and "Surfing with Sartre" (James) and "Hyperobjects" (Morton). "Death" by Todd May is not on Audible, but the first chapter of that book works as an intro to Division II of Being and Time, and was influential on the TV show The Good Place. "This Life" by Martin Hagglund is on Audible and the opening is informed by Heidegger's discussion of death in Division II.

Just know: some sentences do not make sense and are not worth your time. Keep moving and it will start to fall into place. Heidegger's own introduction is bizarre if you're new to the book. Skip it. I would listen to Taylor Carman's introduction and then skip to Part I of Division I (i.e. track 12 on Audible). And the famous hammer analogy begins in section 15 (i.e. track 19 on Audible).

Understanding this book helps you unlock other writers: Arendt, de Beauvoir, Foucault, Bourdieu, Merleau-Ponty, Charles Taylor, Edward Said, Judith Butler (all have books on Audible). Most of European social theory during the second part of the twentieth century. Anglo-American social theory classics like Goffman's "The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life" and Berger's "The Social Construction of Reality" (both on Audible). I honestly didn’t understand Nietzsche until I read this book.

Heidegger was an unapologetic Nazi. He slept with his students while married. Nothing redeemable about his character as a human. He notably doesn't discuss love, compassion or justice. Pillage his writings for what you find useful and throw out the rest. There's no way to defend this guy. That's the only reason why I'm not giving this 5 stars.

UPDATE: Go for Sara Ahmed's "Queer Phenomenology" which is now on Audible and phenomenology will make more sense.

Audacious Ukemi

In terms of scale of ambition, quality of content, and quality of execution, Ukemi has long surpassed Naxos to say nothing of the rest.

Amazing performance!!

Haven't finished the book, but just have to say that Martyn Swain does an amazing job reading this. Heidegger is inherently difficult to understand, because his concepts are deep and require a lot of thought. But I find that Heidegger's way of expressing himself often adds to the burden. Swain reads in a way that makes the structure of each sentence clear, leaving the reader free to think about Heidegger's meaning rather than his sentence structure.

Before hearing this performance of B&T, I could not imagine how it would be possible to listen to such a dense text in a recording. But I'm finding that, to my amazement, that it's actually easier to follow the recording than the printed text. Mr Swain's reading brings out the structure of Heidegger's ideas with beautiful clarity. Add to that, that Mr Swain pronounces German and Greek fluently, and I think he deserves some kind of a medal. Bravo!

Great

I have not yet "read" this audio. But just the fact that this book now is available as audio is 5 big stars.

Hurrah! Much rejoicing!!

So happy to have this on audio! I am sure this will prove one of if not the most treasured piece of my audible library. Would've preferred to have the Stambaugh translation read but meh- I am not complaining. This older translation is a venerable classic. And the narration is spot on so far, Just wow- thank you for being the best nonfiction audiobook publisher on the market Ukemi!! You are greatly appreciated!

Word salad

The narrator was good, but if they mixed up some of the words there would be no way to tell.

Excellent

Great performance and pace. I would love to hear more like this from Heidegger if possible. Thanks Ukemi.

LOVE IT!!!

Please please please, same narrator please narrate Heidegger's "Basic Problems of Phenomenology" pretty please : )

absorb this info

This is a must understand concept in modern times. Think of time as a living creature

Wonderful book. Clipped, persnickety reader.

It's odd how un-difficult it is to follow BT on audio when you get accustomed to the terminology and have a quiet and pleasant reading environment in which to listen. That said, it seems very odd that Martyn Swain was chosen to read a text meant to undermine all that is pretentious and superfluous in ordinary life to get back to the fundamental elements of experience. Heidegger was not a fan of the manners and affectations of the British upperclass, which is still another reason why his selection was odd.

BT attempts to take on the history of western metaphysics as a project of covering over what was immediate and alive in human experience, resulting in a certain technological regime of Modernity and arguably what comes after, posthuman concepts that push the linguistic materials of our present, still-emerging Techne to the level of an all-encompassing prison.

The ideas of BT look at the experience of anxiety as a natural feeling of falling in relation to authentic modes of being that transcend language and linguistic conceptions to break through to the core of human potentiality and a living sense of wonder on the Earth. In so doing, Heidegger is ultimately trying to achieve what Nietzsche arguably fails at: the redemption of the Earth as a scene of something heroically worthwhile, which in this case, is the charted victory of the authentically heroic over the mundane compromise of Modernity's many vapid, unimaginative and utterly life-annulling "certainties", among which are the disregard for the ancient virtues, and therefore all virtuous action, and such as "dangerously" seeing the Real without the aid of our now-digitized precession of the image of what is said to have happened, said by and for the They, as what One does, what One thinks, based upon what One has heard -- that all-encompassing, abstract One that is heard everywhere and sees nothing for what it ever is for the subject in its true and utterly private authenticity.

Swain is G.O.A.T

Being and Time is not an easy read, and its dense prose can be hard to find yourself absorbed in (fallen into, perhaps?), so I'm glad to have this audiobook Ready-to-hand. Swain's voice is clear and enjoyable to listen to, and while I doubt it's possible to absorb much of this text if you just listen to the audiobook on its own, listening as you have the book open in front of you is a good way to stay attentive and focused. The Greek and Latin are translated as they show up, meaning you don't have to flick to the back of the book every couple of minutes, which is a handy bonus. I just got done with Division One, and I can really recommend this to anyone wanting to jump into Heidegger's notoriously difficult magnum opus.

A landmark text, though inaccessibly difficult

While Being & Time is an essential text within the Phenomenology or Existential (though Heidegger rejected the term) philosophical tradition, the work is for most people a very inaccessible text. Having attempted the book before, I have now cheated and used the audio version, and still feel not much the wiser.
The essential problem is that Heidegger talks in a very circular and verbiose manner which essentially buries the main points under too much elaboration. This coupled with the fact that the original German does not translate well, and one has a work that is incredibly difficult. The best advice for anyone attempting this is to use a guide or an accompanying text, but this in itself may negate the need for reading the text itself.
The basic gist of Heidegger’s argument is that being is constituted by it’s being like properties, for example, a hammer is a hammer because of its hammer like properties and its recognition as a hammer by those cognizant of it. As for human beings, the term used is Da Sein, something that translates as being there, or being in the world. We are essentially thrown into the world, as one does not get a choice of where or when one is born, and by the time one is cognizant, one has no memory of their birth or early years.
The key point is that one is able to project themselves into the future as they are aware of the past and aware of the future, and therefore, time is a series of continual nows. It is the latter that is the most valuable part of Heidegger’s philosophy, at least as far as this reader is concerned.
Essentially, I found the parts about what constituted Being to be essentially confusing or of limited use, but the nature of one’s existence in relation to the past and the future is a valuable building block in the philosophy of Existentialism (regardless of what Heidegger calls it).
There is no doubt that Being and Time a valuable text, a 20th Century Classic, but there is no getting past how difficult and inaccessible it is. Treat this more as a project rather than a quick and easy read, and wherever possible use a guide or a commentary to help you through the text. Indeed, commentaries may be of much use, only dive into the text itself unless one is really determined to conquer it.
The narration by Martyn Swain is very professor like and if anything makes the work seem more serious, but he keeps a decent pace and makes it as digestible as it could possibly be.
The accompanying PDF file is useful and should be referenced by anyone struggling with the book, as most are likely to struggle.

An must to read

However it is important to say that this book is is a tonguetwister in many parts. Heidegger is not a clear writer. He prefers making knots in the phrases, which I find useless as a style. Despite that, an interesting and contemporary analysis of the cognition and history.

Well read and doable

Read with understanding. Useful to listen to as you read a long with the text.