>From: GEVANS613@xxxxxxx
>To: heidegger@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, heidegger-dialognet@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>Subject: National Socialism as the Custodian of Being By Martin Heidegger
>Date: Tue, Jul 20, 2004, 9:44 pm
Is not this torso below lifted out of _Introduction to Metaphysics_? I do
not think this fragment was subtitled 'National Socialism as the Custodian
of Being', was it? Also, this fragment as quoted by Jud, seems to begin with
a sentence, but in fact begins after a colon preceded by a section dealing
with and questioning Nietzsche's formulation of being as a vaporous fallacy,
culminating with the following:
"We do not ask these questions incidentally, and still less do they spring
from any particular outlook or stste of mind; no, they are questions to
which we are driven by that preliminary question which sprang necessarily
from our main question "How does it stand with being?" -- a sober question
perhaps, but assuredly a very useless one. And yet a _question_, _the_
question: is "being" a mere word and its meaning a vapor, or is it the
spiritual destiny of the Western world?"
[etc]
Finally, it's worth noting (and admitting) whose translations these are.
Mine is by Ralph Mannheim. I mention this because even when one translates
(e.g.) "a vapor" {Mannheim} and the other "utterly nebulous" {whoever} in
the opening of this torso the same phrase/word (German anyone?), and, later
on "the same dreary technological frenzy" {Mannheim} and " the same desolate
frenzy of unbounded technology" {whoever}, the meanings clearly different in
at least emphasis, then it matters.
regards
michaelP
> Is 'Being' a mere word and its meaning utterly nebulous, or is it the
> spiritual destiny of the Occident?
> This Europe, which is always in the process of tearing itself apart out of
> utter blindness, lies today in the great pincer-grip formed by Russia on the
> one hand and America on the other. Seen metaphysically, Russia and America
are
> both the same: the same desolate frenzy of unbounded technology and of the
> unlimited organization of the average human being. Once the furthermost corner
> of the globe has been technologically conquered and opened up to economic
> exploitation, when every possible event in every possible place at every
> possible time has become as accessible as quickly as possible, when people can
> 'experience' an attempt on the life of a king in France and a symphony conceit
in
> Tokyo simultaneously, when time has become only speed, instantaneousness, and
> simultaneity, and time as History has disappeared from the existence of all
> peoples, when the boxer is seen as the great man of a people, when mass
> gatherings running into millions are regarded as a triumph—then, yes, then,
the
> questions which hover over this whole grotesque charade like ghosts are: for
> what?—where to?—and what then?
> The spiritual decay of the earth is so advanced that peoples risk exhausting
> that reserve of spiritual force which enables them just to see and take
> stock of this decay (in respect of the destiny of 'Being'). This simple
> observation has nothing to do with cultural pessimism: for in every corner of
the
> world the darkening of the world, the flight of the gods, the destruction of
the
> earth, the massification of man, the contemptuous suspicion of everything
> which is creative and free, have reached such proportions that such childlike
> expressions as pessimism and optimism have long become laughable.
> We lie in a pincer-grip. As the people placed at the centre we experience
> the hardest pressure, as the people with the most neighbours we are most at
> risk, and on top of this we are the most metaphysical people. But this people
> will only be able to forge a destiny out of its fate if it first creates in
> itself a resonance, some possibility of a resonance, of this fate and
achieves a
> creative understanding of its tradition. What all this involves is that this
> people as a historical people projects itself and thereby the history of the
> West from the core of its future development into the original realm of the
> forces of Being. If the great verdict on Europe is not to be reached on its
> road to annihilation, then it can only be reached because of the unfolding of
> new historically spiritual forces from the centre.
> In order to underpin values which have been raised to the level of a moral
> imperative, the values themselves are attributed Being. But in this context
> Being basically means no more than the presence of what exists. Only that what
> is meant is not as crude and palpable as tables and chairs. Once values are
> endowed with Being the high-point of confusion and rootlessness has been
> arrived at. However, since the expression 'value' is gradually coming to
sound
> hackneyed, especially since it still plays a role in economic theory, values
are
> now called 'totalities'. In 1928 there appeared the first volume of a
> complete bibliography of the concept value; 661 works concerning the concept
of
> value are cited. They have presumably grown to a thousand by now. This is all
> called philosophy. What today is systematically touted as the philosophy of
> National Socialism, but which has nothing in the least to do with the inner
> truth and greatness of this movement (namely the encounter of a globally
> determined technology with the man of the new age), darts about with
fish-like
> movements in the murky waters of these 'values' and 'totalities'.
>
> Martin Heidegger
>
>
> --- StripMime Warning -- MIME attachments removed ---
> This message may have contained attachments which were removed.
>
> Sorry, we do not allow attachments on this list.
>
> --- StripMime Report -- processed MIME parts ---
> multipart/alternative
> text/plain (text body -- kept)
> text/html
> ---
>
>
> --- from list heidegger@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx ---
>
--- from list heidegger@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx ---
>To: heidegger@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, heidegger-dialognet@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>Subject: National Socialism as the Custodian of Being By Martin Heidegger
>Date: Tue, Jul 20, 2004, 9:44 pm
Is not this torso below lifted out of _Introduction to Metaphysics_? I do
not think this fragment was subtitled 'National Socialism as the Custodian
of Being', was it? Also, this fragment as quoted by Jud, seems to begin with
a sentence, but in fact begins after a colon preceded by a section dealing
with and questioning Nietzsche's formulation of being as a vaporous fallacy,
culminating with the following:
"We do not ask these questions incidentally, and still less do they spring
from any particular outlook or stste of mind; no, they are questions to
which we are driven by that preliminary question which sprang necessarily
from our main question "How does it stand with being?" -- a sober question
perhaps, but assuredly a very useless one. And yet a _question_, _the_
question: is "being" a mere word and its meaning a vapor, or is it the
spiritual destiny of the Western world?"
[etc]
Finally, it's worth noting (and admitting) whose translations these are.
Mine is by Ralph Mannheim. I mention this because even when one translates
(e.g.) "a vapor" {Mannheim} and the other "utterly nebulous" {whoever} in
the opening of this torso the same phrase/word (German anyone?), and, later
on "the same dreary technological frenzy" {Mannheim} and " the same desolate
frenzy of unbounded technology" {whoever}, the meanings clearly different in
at least emphasis, then it matters.
regards
michaelP
> Is 'Being' a mere word and its meaning utterly nebulous, or is it the
> spiritual destiny of the Occident?
> This Europe, which is always in the process of tearing itself apart out of
> utter blindness, lies today in the great pincer-grip formed by Russia on the
> one hand and America on the other. Seen metaphysically, Russia and America
are
> both the same: the same desolate frenzy of unbounded technology and of the
> unlimited organization of the average human being. Once the furthermost corner
> of the globe has been technologically conquered and opened up to economic
> exploitation, when every possible event in every possible place at every
> possible time has become as accessible as quickly as possible, when people can
> 'experience' an attempt on the life of a king in France and a symphony conceit
in
> Tokyo simultaneously, when time has become only speed, instantaneousness, and
> simultaneity, and time as History has disappeared from the existence of all
> peoples, when the boxer is seen as the great man of a people, when mass
> gatherings running into millions are regarded as a triumph—then, yes, then,
the
> questions which hover over this whole grotesque charade like ghosts are: for
> what?—where to?—and what then?
> The spiritual decay of the earth is so advanced that peoples risk exhausting
> that reserve of spiritual force which enables them just to see and take
> stock of this decay (in respect of the destiny of 'Being'). This simple
> observation has nothing to do with cultural pessimism: for in every corner of
the
> world the darkening of the world, the flight of the gods, the destruction of
the
> earth, the massification of man, the contemptuous suspicion of everything
> which is creative and free, have reached such proportions that such childlike
> expressions as pessimism and optimism have long become laughable.
> We lie in a pincer-grip. As the people placed at the centre we experience
> the hardest pressure, as the people with the most neighbours we are most at
> risk, and on top of this we are the most metaphysical people. But this people
> will only be able to forge a destiny out of its fate if it first creates in
> itself a resonance, some possibility of a resonance, of this fate and
achieves a
> creative understanding of its tradition. What all this involves is that this
> people as a historical people projects itself and thereby the history of the
> West from the core of its future development into the original realm of the
> forces of Being. If the great verdict on Europe is not to be reached on its
> road to annihilation, then it can only be reached because of the unfolding of
> new historically spiritual forces from the centre.
> In order to underpin values which have been raised to the level of a moral
> imperative, the values themselves are attributed Being. But in this context
> Being basically means no more than the presence of what exists. Only that what
> is meant is not as crude and palpable as tables and chairs. Once values are
> endowed with Being the high-point of confusion and rootlessness has been
> arrived at. However, since the expression 'value' is gradually coming to
sound
> hackneyed, especially since it still plays a role in economic theory, values
are
> now called 'totalities'. In 1928 there appeared the first volume of a
> complete bibliography of the concept value; 661 works concerning the concept
of
> value are cited. They have presumably grown to a thousand by now. This is all
> called philosophy. What today is systematically touted as the philosophy of
> National Socialism, but which has nothing in the least to do with the inner
> truth and greatness of this movement (namely the encounter of a globally
> determined technology with the man of the new age), darts about with
fish-like
> movements in the murky waters of these 'values' and 'totalities'.
>
> Martin Heidegger
>
>
> --- StripMime Warning -- MIME attachments removed ---
> This message may have contained attachments which were removed.
>
> Sorry, we do not allow attachments on this list.
>
> --- StripMime Report -- processed MIME parts ---
> multipart/alternative
> text/plain (text body -- kept)
> text/html
> ---
>
>
> --- from list heidegger@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx ---
>
--- from list heidegger@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx ---