In this compelling work, John McCumber unfolds a history of Western metaphysics that is also a history of the legitimation of oppression. That is, until Heidegger. But Heidegger himself did not see how his conception of metaphysics opened doors to challenge domination encoded in structures and institutions – such as slavery, colonialism, and marriage – that in the past have given order to the Western world. McCumber brings to light this unperceived challenge by tracing the history of the inscription of domination into the very nature of Being as it is conceived by Aristotle, Aquinas, Descartes, Hobbes, and Locke. The result is a unique and creative explication of Western philosophy that both confronts the difficult and important task of Heidegger’s political alignment and breaks out of traditions of domination, exploitation, and oppression.