By situating my own thinking within a broader historical tradition, I can see more clearly how my particular concerns and preoccupations are mine rather than just the objectively and timelessly important ones that all people with philosophical inclinations might turn themselves to.
Saying you love art but have no interest in religion is like saying you love EDM but have no interest in dancing.
We live in an era that’s impatient and grasping, says Heidegger. Our technological prowess is only the most outward evidence of this more general way of being in the world.
The questions prod respondents to think about philosophy in a certain way that many people—the authors presumably included—so take for granted that they don’t even notice that there’s prodding going on.
On one hand, Heidegger is arguably the most important figure in European philosophy in the twentieth century. On the other hand, he was for a time a card-carrying member of the Nazi Party.