Why is there anything at all, instead of nothing? How are we to understand what it is to be?

Heidegger argues, in magisterial, flowing and esoteric language, that Western civilisation has gone wrong because it has systematically misunderstood this question.

Instead, he claims that we have tried to understand physical things themselves. We have confused appearance with reality: we have replaced understanding with reason, wonder with technology, and use with exploitation.

His answer is a return to the beginnings of our thinking to achieve a more sustainable view of the world and a correct view of our limited but central place as thinking beings in it.