Introduction

categories and the question of being

pp. 1-21

in: Martin Weatherston, Heidegger's interpretation of Kant, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2002

Abstract

Heidegger's interpretation of Kant has long been seen as problematic. As an interpretation, it is far from mainstream, and this unusualness has led to harsh criticism. A central feature of the objections is the claim that Heidegger has wilfully forced Kant into seeming to be a mere precursor of Heidegger. This criticism was initiated most notably by Ernst Cassirer in his review of Kant and the Problem of Metaphysics: "Here Heidegger speaks no longer as a commentator, but as a usurper, who as it were enters with force of arms into the Kantian system in order to subjugate it and to make it serve his own problematic."¹