A new, definitive translation of Heidegger’s most important work.

The publication of Martin Heidegger’s magnum opus, Being and Time, in 1927 signaled an intellectual event of the first order and had an impact in fields far beyond that of philosophy proper. Among the most complex and original analyses of the character of philosophic inquiry and the relation of the possibility of such inquiry to the human situation, Being and Time has long been recognized as a landmark work of the twentieth century. Still provocative and much disputed, Heidegger’s text has been taken as the inspiration for a variety of innovative movements in fields ranging from psychoanalysis, literary theory, existentialism, ethics, hermeneutics, and theology. A work that disturbs the traditions of philosophizing that it inherits, Being and Time raises questions about the end of philosophy and the possibilities for thinking liberated from the presumptions of metaphysics.

This new translation by Joan Stambaugh takes account of English-language Heidegger research since the first translation of Being and Time in 1962. The Stambaugh translation captures the vital relation to language that animates Heidegger’s original text. Through this translation elements of Being and Time that were not so clearly evident hitherto should become more apparent to readers of the English text. The new translation of key notions here should serve as the standard for Heidegger studies to come.

“Stambaugh’s new version has large virtues, and improves on the only alternative … [It] is best suited to beginning or general audiences … These will find its spare and unobtrusive apparatus, which lets the text stand out more simply on its own and not bristling with flagged complications, a decisive virtue … As a supplement or for comparison, or as a vehicle for reacquainting oneself with the work, it gives excellent service.” — TLS

“This new translation … offers the text in a more precise and understandable English than earlier editions.” — Library Journal

“Stambaugh’s greatest merit as a translator is her ability to render the most difficult of Heidegger’s prose … into an English that remains both elegant and as faithful as possible to the original … The bilingual glossary and index in the back are marvelously helpful … Any translation of Sein und Zeit cannot help being a welcome contribution, even a significant landmark, within the world of Heidegger scholarship.” — MLN

Joan Stambaugh is Professor in the Department of Philosophy at Hunter College. She is the author of The Real is Not the Rational, The Finitude of Being, and The Other Nietzsche, all published by SUNY Press.