On Time and Being

1. Introduction

On Time and Being (Zeit und Sein) is a late lecture by Martin Heidegger in which he revisits, in condensed form, questions first raised in Being and Time (1927). Instead of asking what the meaning of Being is through an analysis of human existence, Heidegger now focuses on the apparently simple phrase “es gibt Sein” (“there is / it gives Being”) and on the enigmatic event of appropriation (Ereignis).

The lecture is often treated as a key access point to Heidegger’s so‑called “later thought.” It brings together three motifs that had been developing across his work after the 1930s: the co-belonging of Being and time, the role of language and saying in disclosing Being, and the historically specific dominance of modern technology. Within this compressed setting, Heidegger proposes that neither Being nor time is primary; rather, both are granted within an anonymous giving that cannot be mastered by traditional metaphysics or by a subject.

Because of its brevity and density, On Time and Being has functioned as both a summary and an intensification of Heidegger’s late concerns, and it has played a central role in later debates about temporality, the “end of metaphysics,” and the limits of representational thinking.

2. Historical Context and the Kehre

2.1 From Being and Time to the Later Work

On Time and Being emerges against the background of Heidegger’s long‑announced but never completed project to finish Being and Time. In the 1927 work, Being is approached through the temporality of Dasein (human existence). By the mid‑1930s, Heidegger began to question whether this remained trapped within subject‑centered metaphysics, contributing to what he later called the Kehre (“turn”).

2.2 The Kehre

The Kehre is variously interpreted as:

On Time and Being is situated at the mature end of this trajectory, after Heidegger’s writings on truth as unconcealment, language as the “house of Being”, and technology as enframing (Gestell). Many commentators see the lecture as a concise statement of how the Kehre culminates in the thinking of Ereignis and the “es gibt”.

2.3 Postwar and Technological Context

Delivered in 1962, the lecture also reflects postwar anxieties about modern technology and global calculative planning. Heidegger integrates these concerns into a broader account of historical “epochs” of Being, of which the technological age is one.

3. Author and Composition of the Lecture

3.1 Heidegger in the Early 1960s

By 1961–1962, Heidegger was an established but controversial figure in German philosophy, retired from his Freiburg chair yet frequently lecturing and revising earlier texts. His postwar publications had increasingly emphasized language, poetry, and technology, preparing the terrain for On Time and Being.

3.2 Genesis and Delivery

Heidegger composed the manuscript of “Zeit und Sein” around 1961–1962. It was delivered on 31 January 1962 as a public lecture for the Studium Generale at the University of Freiburg.

Commentators note that, unlike some earlier improvised lectures, this text is highly structured and deliberately compressed, suggesting Heidegger’s intention to offer a programmatic statement of his late position.

3.3 Publication History

The lecture was first printed in 1963 in Zur Sache des Denkens, later incorporated as GA 14 in the Gesamtausgabe. The standard English translation, by Joan Stambaugh, appeared in 1972 under the title On Time and Being.

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“The following lecture was delivered on 31 January 1962…”

— Heidegger, Zur Sache des Denkens (GA 14)

Scholars generally treat the preserved manuscript and early prints as textually stable; there are no major variant versions, though translation choices—especially for terms like Ereignis, es gibt, and Geschick—remain heavily debated.

4. Structure and Organization of On Time and Being

4.1 Overall Layout

Although brief, the lecture follows a clear three‑part progression, corresponding closely to the outline already reconstructed by scholars.

In printed form, these articulations are not labeled as “chapters” by Heidegger himself, but the transitions are marked by explicit thematic shifts and signposts in the text.

4.2 Internal Development

Within this framework, the lecture proceeds through a series of tightly linked steps:

• An analysis of the locution “es gibt Sein / es gibt Zeit”.
• A clarification of time no longer as a horizon of Dasein but as issued from the same giving as Being.
• The introduction and naming of Ereignis as the “proper” designation for this giving.
• A turn to language and saying (Sagen) as the way the event shows itself and withholds itself.
• A concluding linkage of this account to the technological epoch and to a transformation in the style of thinking.

The organization is often described as “spiral”: earlier themes (time, Being, language) are repeatedly revisited at a deeper level as the lecture moves forward.

4.3 Relation to the Volume Zur Sache des Denkens

In Zur Sache des Denkens, “Zeit und Sein” appears alongside other pieces, including the dialogue “Zeit und Sein – Ein Gespräch” (sometimes read as a supplement). Some interpreters argue that these companion texts help clarify the lecture’s structure, while others insist that On Time and Being is self-contained and intentionally elliptical.

5. Central Arguments and Key Concepts

5.1 From Being/Time to Giving

Heidegger reorients the question from “What is the meaning of Being?” to the more originary giving that grants both Being and time. The phrase “es gibt Sein” is read not as a neutral “there is Being” but as:

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“Es gibt: it gives. Giving, not what is given, is the essential.”

— Heidegger, On Time and Being

Proponents of this reading maintain that the lecture thereby decenters both subject and object. Critics argue that the move is asserted rather than rigorously justified.

5.2 Ereignis (Event of Appropriation)

Ereignis names the event in which Being, time, and human beings are mutually appropriated to one another.

Interpretations differ: some (e.g., Richardson) see Ereignis as a refinement of earlier accounts of temporality; others (e.g., some critics in the “rupture” camp) view it as an obscure quasi-metaphysical hypostasis.

5.3 Time in the Late Heidegger

Time is no longer treated as a primarily existential or transcendental structure. Instead, time is one way in which the giving of Being “temporalizes.” Commentators disagree whether this abandons phenomenology or radicalizes it by shifting attention to the historical “sendings” of Being.

5.4 Language, Saying, and Concealment

The lecture asserts that language is not a mere tool but a dimension of the event itself. A transformed saying (Sagen) should let the giving show itself while acknowledging its simultaneous concealment (Verborgenheit). This concealment is presented not as a defect but as intrinsic to how Being is given. Deconstructive readers (e.g., Derrida) emphasize the affinity between this view and notions of trace and différance.

5.5 Technology, Destining, and Thinking

Heidegger connects his analysis to modern technology as Gestell (enframing), interpreting it as a historically specific destining (Geschick) within the event. The lecture suggests that calculative thinking cannot “overcome” Gestell; instead, a stance of Gelassenheit (releasement) and thankful thinking is called for. Some commentators regard this as ethically and politically insufficient; others see it as a non-activist reconfiguration of responsibility grounded in Ereignis.

6. Legacy and Historical Significance

6.1 Immediate and Later Reception

Upon publication in 1963, On Time and Being was primarily discussed within German academic circles already familiar with Heidegger’s later work. Its influence expanded significantly after the 1972 English translation.

6.2 Influence on Subsequent Philosophy

The lecture has been especially significant for:

• Post-structuralism and deconstruction: Thinkers such as Jacques Derrida draw on its vocabulary of gift, event, and concealment to rethink presence and metaphysics.
• Hermeneutics and phenomenology: Interpreters like William J. Richardson and Thomas Sheehan use it to argue, respectively, for continuity or reinterpretation of Heidegger’s project.
• Theology and philosophy of religion: The notions of event, giving, and destining have informed various “post-metaphysical” approaches to transcendence.

6.3 Ongoing Debates

Scholars continue to dispute:

• Whether On Time and Being offers a coherent culmination of Heidegger’s thought or an unresolved shift away from phenomenology.
• How its account of Geschick and Gelassenheit bears on questions of agency, ethics, and politics, especially in light of Heidegger’s political history.
• The extent to which its analysis of technology can be extended to contemporary digital, biotechnological, and ecological issues.

Despite divergent assessments, the lecture is widely regarded as a central text for understanding the late Heidegger and for broader discussions about time, Being, and the historical conditions of thought.