Abstract
‘Being’ describes the importance that Heidegger ascribed to considering the nature of an object, or its being, before addressing knowledge of it. Whereas other philosophers treated all entities as vorhanden, ‘present at hand’, as appropriate objects of disinterested description, Heidegger argued for multiple conceptions of being. These conceptions included the existence of the object, qualities that distinguish it from others, and its mode of being — as a real entity rather than an ideal one, for instance. Heidegger was convinced that being must be considered in the context of the world around and of the relationship of the subject of inquiry to the object considered.
