Simon Critchley on Giving Up the Fantasy of Mastery

Who better to bring remarkable clarity to the density of Martin Heidegger’s Being and Time than the British philosopher and New School professor Simon Critchley? After decades spent studying and teaching the controversial German philosopher’s 1927 magnum opus, Critchley takes it on in his latest book, Heidegger Thinking: ‘Being and Time’ Explained, getting at the deceptively simple ideas at its core: Being is time. Time is finite. And to live freely is to reckon with that finitude. For Critchley, there’s a certain solace to be found in knowing our limits, giving up fantasies of total control, and more fully inhabiting the time we have.

On this week’s episode, Critchley—our first-ever repeat guest on the show—discusses Heidegger’s ideas of lived and ecstatic time, the distinction between anxiety and fear, and why philosophy, at its best, helps us see the world anew. He also explores how a suspenseful sports match can warp our sense of time; the peculiar way David Bowie’s music collapses past, present, and future; and poetry’s power to make the familiar strange.

Special thanks to our Season 14 presenting partner, L’ÉCOLE, School of Jewelry Arts, supported by Van Cleef & Arpels.

Show notes:

Simon Critchley

[01:03] Heidegger Thinking (2026)

[01:11] Heidegger

[01:15] Being and Time

[14:57] Walter Benjamin

[14:57] The Origin of German Tragic Drama (1928)

[16:17] Dasein

[29:42] The Existentialist Reader: An Anthology of Key Texts (2001)

[33:00] What We Think About When We Think About Soccer (2017)

[33:24] Jürgen Klopp

[43:36] Mysticism (2024)

[58:17] Wallace Stevens

[1:01:58] Things Merely Are (2005)

[1:11:32] Question Everything (2022)

[1:12:39] Bowie (2014)

[1:16:10] Moonage Daydream (2022)

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