Being and Time describes his project in the following way: "our aim in the following treatise is to work out the question of the sense of "being" and to do so concretely." Heidegger claims that traditional ontology has prejudicially overlooked this question, dismissing it on the basis that being is the most universal and emptiest concept, that is indefinable or obvious. Instead Heidegger proposes to understand being itself, as distinguished from any specific entities (beings). "'Being' is not something like a being." Being, Heidegger claims, is "what determines beings as beings, that in terms of which beings are already understood." Heidegger is seeking
David Gordon (philosopher) and was strongly influenced by German philosopher Friedrich Adolf Trendelenburg. Gordon later wrote an essay, "Second Thoughts on The Philosophical Origins of Austrian Economics," to provide some additions and corrections to his book. Gordon edited the collection, "Secession, State & Liberty" (2002), eleven essays that suggest that secession should be given serious consideration. The essays examine United States history, look at theoretical issues, and apply theory to the modern world. In 2011 Gordon conducted a study with Swedish consultant Per Nilsson on books published by Harvard University Press. They published the results of their analysis as "The Ideological Profile of