Martin Heidegger

1889-1976 Heidegger, Martin

German philosopher counted among the main exponents of existentialism. His 1927 Being and Time determined the course of 20th-century philosophy on the European continent and exerted an enormous influence on virtually every other humanistic discipline, including literary criticism, hermeneutics, psychology, and theology.  He later turned away from his earlier work toward view that western philosophy from Plato forward missed the point of understanding existence by putting humans at the center. He joined the NAZI party and later refused to repudiate the connection.