Theodore Kisiel, Distinguished Research Professor Emeritus of philosophy at Northern Illinois University, is a well-known translator of and commentator on the works of Martin Heidegger. Kisiel is known for his research on the development of Heidegger's early thought. Among his students are Steven Crowell and Govert Schüller.
According to Kisiel, Heidegger views the entire history of both Eastern and Western philosophy (starting with Parmenides) as dominated by ontology, or "the metaphysics of permanent presence". Heidegger sees his work as focusing instead on the temporal, contingent, "thrown" existence of the individual.