Meaning Takes Time to Unfold: Towards a Heideggerian Ontology of Temporal Differentiation

While the book is a continuation of a few traditions in continental philosophy which takes time philosophically seriously, it is distinctive in not considering time abstractly but always situating its conceptualization in the context of what it means for a thing or an event to be. Instead of a mere measure of change, an itself invariant structure of happening, or a new metaphysical absolute, time is interpreted here as the way beings are. The interpretation comes from, and seeks to do justice to, the basic experience of time bringing about wonder, fulfillment, or disappointment. The book appeals to students and researchers working on Heidegger scholarship, phenomenology, and more generally the philosophy of time and subjectivity. It inspires a patience for meaning in mortal transience, to find dignity and beauty in what will eventually expire—that is, in life as such.