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Heidegger: Philosophy and Nazism

One of the greatest Western philosophers, Martin Heidegger, was also a Nazi. A new biography explores Heidegger's intellectual development and relationship to German politics in the early 20th century. Despite his pettiness and support of Nazism, Heidegger wrote powerful, original works that influenced many later philosophers. While his writings will be studied for centuries, they will also bear the "smell of smoke from the crematories." The biography balances an assessment of Heidegger's philosophy with a detailed account of his life and involvement with the Nazi party.

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385 views3 pages

Heidegger: Philosophy and Nazism

One of the greatest Western philosophers, Martin Heidegger, was also a Nazi. A new biography explores Heidegger's intellectual development and relationship to German politics in the early 20th century. Despite his pettiness and support of Nazism, Heidegger wrote powerful, original works that influenced many later philosophers. While his writings will be studied for centuries, they will also bear the "smell of smoke from the crematories." The biography balances an assessment of Heidegger's philosophy with a detailed account of his life and involvement with the Nazi party.

Uploaded by

AlperUluğ
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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22.10.

2015

AMasterFromGermany

AMasterFromGermany
OneofthegreatestWesternphilosopherswasalsoaNazi.
ByRICHARDRORTY

anypeoplewholearnthatMartin
Heidegger(18891976)liedoverand
overagainabouthisNazism,andthathedid
hisbesttoignorethemurderoftheEuropean
Jews,concludethathiswritingscanbe
neglected.Forthosewhocareabout
philosophy,however,thingsarenotthat
simple.
Heideggerwasaresentful,ungenerous,
MARTINHEIDEGGER
disloyalanddeceitfulman.Buthesomehow
BetweenGoodandEvil.
managedtowritebooksthatareaspowerful
ByRdigerSafranski.
andasoriginalasSpinoza'sorHegel's.Hans
TranslatedbyEwaldOsers.
GeorgGadamer,JeanPaulSartre,Emmanuel
474pp.Cambridge,Mass.:
HarvardUniversityPress.$35.
Levinas,HannahArendt,MichelFoucault,
JacquesDerridaandJurgenHabermasallcut
theirteethonthosebooks.Youcannotread
mostoftheimportantphilosophersofrecent
timeswithouttakingHeidegger'sthoughtintoaccount.
RdigerSafranski'sevenhandedstudy,''MartinHeidegger:BetweenGood
andEvil''(inacapabletranslationbyEwaldOsers),isequallysuccessfulat
illustratingitssubject'spettinessandatdisplayingthevastpowerofhis
imagination.Itisthefirstcomprehensivebiographyoftheman,and
supersedesbothVictorFarias's''HeideggerandNazism''andHugoOtt's
''MartinHeidegger:APoliticalLife.''Itreportsmanyfactsthatthesebooks
didnot,anditoffersadetailedaccountofHeidegger'sintellectual
developmentrelatinghistwistsandturns,withgreatskillandremarkable
concision,toGermanintellectualandpoliticallifeinthefirsthalfofthis
century.
Safranski,theauthorof''SchopenhauerandtheWildYearsofPhilosophy,''
neverstepsbackandpronouncesjudgmentonHeidegger,butsomethingcan
beinferredfromtheGermantitleofhisbook:''EinMeisterausDeutschland''
(''AMasterFromGermany'').Heideggerwas,undeniably,amaster,andwas
veryGermanindeed.ButSafranski'sspinechillingallusionistoPaulCelan's
bestknownpoem,''DeathFugue.''InMichaelHamburger'stranslation,its
lastlinesare:
deathisamasterfromGermanyhiseyesareblue
hestrikesyouwithleadenbulletshisaimistrue
amanlivesinthehouseyourgoldenhairMargarete
hesetshispackonushegrantsusagraveintheair
heplayswiththeserpentsanddaydreamsdeathisamasterfromGermany
yourgoldenhairMargarete
yourashenhairShulamith.
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NoonefamiliarwithHeidegger'sworkcanreadCelan'spoemwithout
recallingHeidegger'sfamousdictum:''LanguageisthehouseofBeing.Inits
homemandwells.''Nobodywhomakesthisassociationcanrereadthepoem
withouthavingtheimagesofHitlerandHeideggertwomenwhoplayed
withserpentsanddaydreamedblendintoeachother.Heidegger'sbooks
willbereadforcenturiestocome,butthesmellofsmokefromthe
crematoriesthe''graveintheair''willlingerontheirpages.
Heideggeristheantithesisofthesortofphilosopher(JohnStuartMill,
WilliamJames,IsaiahBerlin)whoassumesthatnothingultimatelymatters
excepthumanhappiness.Forhim,humansufferingisirrelevant:philosophy
isfarabovesuchbanalities.HesawthehistoryoftheWestnotintermsof
increasingfreedomorofdecreasingmisery,butasapoem.''Being'spoem,''
heoncewrote,''justbegun,isman.''
ForHeidegger,historyisasequenceof''wordsofBeing''thewordsofthe
greatphilosopherswhogavesuccessivehistoricalepochstheirselfimage,
andtherebybuiltsuccessive''housesofBeing.''ThehistoryoftheWest,
whichHeideggeralsocalledthehistoryofBeing,isanarrativeofthe
changesinhumanbeings'imageofthemselves,theirsenseofwhatultimately
matters.Thephilosopher'stask,hesaid,isto''preservetheforceofthemost
elementarywords''topreventthewordsofthegreat,housesofBeing
buildingthinkersofthepastfrombeingbanalized.
Heideggerwobbledbackandforthbetweenaselfeffacingconceptionofthe
philosopherastheinterpreterofanalreadywrittenpoemandanegomaniacal
beliefintheworldhistoricalimportanceofhisownwork.Inthelattermood,
hehopedthathehimselfwouldcompletethestanzaofBeing'spoemthat
Platohadbegunthathewouldutterawordthatwouldcome,asArendt
saidbothPlato'sandHeidegger'sdid,''fromtheprimordial.''WhenHitler
camealong,thepropheticmoodtookover.
AsSafranskitellsus,Heidegger,whowasborninMesskirch,insouthern
Germany,thesonofasexton,startedoutasareactionaryRomanCatholic,
butafterWorldWarIhebrokewiththechurch.Hethenfoundawayto
packageNietzscheandTolstoy,KierkegaardandDostoyevskyintoan
academicallyrespectablephilosophicalsystem.Hereshapedwhathadbeen
thoughtofasmerelyliterarymatterintoadoctrineofthenatureofhuman
life.His''BeingandTime''changedthecourseofEuropeanphilosophyby
breakingdownbarriersbetweengenres,barriersnooneelsehadbeenableto
surmount.
Thatbook,withitsNietzscheancalltoauthenticity,resolutionand
decisiveness,wasaninstantsuccess.Thissuccessencouragedtheegomania
thatletHeideggerimaginethatheandHitlercouldworktogetherto
transformGermany.HeideggerwasobliviousofthetormentofhisJewish
friendsandcolleagues,butafterayearofhecticpropagandizingand
organizing,hedidnoticethattheNazihigherupswerenotpayingmuch
attentiontohim.Thissufficedtoshowhimthathehadoverestimated
NationalSocialism.
Soheretreatedtohismountaincabinand,asSafranskinicelysays,traded
decisivenessforimperturbability.AfterWorldWarII,heexplained,
imaginativelyalbeitmonomaniacally,thatAmericanization,modern
technology,thetrivializationoflifeandtheutterforgetfulnessofBeing(four
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names,hethought,forthesamephenomenon)wereirreversible.Hislast
worksarelyricsofresignationoftenverybeautifullyrics,thoughsoiledby
theeventsthatledHeideggertowritethem.
Safranski,appropriately,devotesthreequartersofhisbooktoHeidegger's
writingsandonlyonequartertotheeventsofhislife.Heentwinesthetwoin
anarrativethatwillengrossthosealreadyfamiliarwithHeidegger,butwill
beintelligibletothosewhoarenot.Ifyoushoulddecidethatyouought,
despiteeverything,toreadHeidegger'sbooks,thisbiographywillgiveyoua
goodrunningstart.
RichardRortyhasrecentlypublishedtwobooks,''AchievingOurCountry:
LeftistThoughtinTwentiethCenturyAmerica''andacollectionof
philosophicalarticlestitled''TruthandProgress.''
ReturntotheBooksHomePage

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