So, what does Heidegger give us that we didn't already have ? ( You don't have to mention his politics) ---------------- I answer:
The early Heidegger (and Husserl, and phenomenology in general, for that matter) don't aim at giving us anything we don't already have. They aim to explicate structures of existence/consciousness, depending on whose terminology you're using, that are already under everyone's nose but are unnoticed.
Reading the early Heidegger, I was always struck by his pointing things out that should have been completely obvious but I had someone never noticed. That loooong description of various sorts of boredom, in, I think it is, the Basic Concepts of Metaphysics is brilliant. (I may have gotten the name wrong; most of my books are on the other side of the planet.)
Plus, he's got a great interpretation of Aristotle. Heidegger was a great, if sometimes willfull, exegete.
Chris Doss The Russia Journal