Being and Time previous philosophies that had become entrenched and hidden within the theoretical attitude of the metaphysics of presence. This use of the word "Destruktion" is meant to signify not a negative operation but rather a positive transformation or recovery. In "Being and Time" Heidegger briefly undertakes a destructuring of the philosophy of René Descartes, but the second volume, which was intended to be a "Destruktion" of Western philosophy in all its stages, was never written. In later works Heidegger uses this approach to interpret the philosophies of Aristotle, Kant, Hegel, and Plato, among others. "Being and Time" is the major achievement
Philosophy and literature narrative "Philosophus Autodidactus" as a response to al-Ghazali's "The Incoherence of the Philosophers", and then the 13th century Islamic theologian-philosopher Ibn al-Nafis also wrote a fictional narrative "Theologus Autodidactus" as a response to Abubacer's "Philosophus Autodidactus". The German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche often articulated his ideas in literary modes, most notably in "Thus Spoke Zarathustra", a re-imagined account of the teachings of Zoroaster. Marquis de Sade and Ayn Rand wrote novels in which characters served as mouthpieces for philosophical positions, and act in accordance with them in the plot. George Santayana was also a philosopher who wrote novels and poetry; the