Martin Heidegger

Heidegger, one of the most influential thinkers of the 20th century, studied theology and then philosophy at the University of Freiburg. In 1913, he defended his dissertation titled “The Theory of Judgment in Psychologism,” and shortly thereafter began working at the University of Freiburg as an assistant to Edmund Husserl, the founder of phenomenology. Between 1923 and 1928, he gave highly acclaimed lectures at the University of Marburg. In 1927, he published *Being and Time*, a work that would later be regarded as his magnum opus. This work, which caused a major stir in a short time, calls for a rethinking of ontology by questioning all previous metaphysical assumptions and bringing the question of being to the forefront. In his later years, through his work on historicity, art, and technology, he left a significant impact across many fields in 20th-century philosophy—from phenomenology to hermeneutics, and from aesthetics to environmental philosophy. Heidegger passed away in Germany in 1976.