Dear David,
I do agree with you that the unfortunate political positions
of Heidegger in the 30's should not be used as an argument to disqualify his
whole philosophical project. After all, philosophical questions go beyond
biography.
Anyway, it is not impossible at all to build a dangerous
relation between some theses of BT and a certain irrationalism that could be
read as preparing the ground to fascist theories.
One such relation is Heidegger's theory of truth. In this
context, unless one is able to answer to the criticism raised by authors
like Tugendhat and Apel, that point to the fact that, by establishing a
criteria of ontological truth --- the famous aletheia --- as a
non-verifiable foundation, Heidegger is actually cutting from philosophy its
crtical-regulative function, this irrationalist reading becomes very
credible. Of course, I do believe that it is possible to answer this
criticism, but I am just pointing to a clever argument as you asked for.
Another very disturbing passage in Heidegger, disregarding
here his Rectoral Address, is the passage in the - An Introduction to
Metaphysics - where he speaks about the "historical mission" of the German
people. As you know, the image of a historical destiny was cherished dearly
by Nazi propaganda.
Alexandre Parola
>
David wrote:
I think that any philosophy can be used to justify naziism if the
>philosopher is so inclined. The question, to my mind, is are there any
>necessary connections between a given philosophy and naziism and, if
>so, how do we interpret these? If Heidegger's "philosophy of
>authenticity" is intimately tied to naziism in some way (and I have yet
>to see any intelligent argument for or against this) it need not lead
>us either to abandon Heidegger or to embrace naziism. The adequacy (or
>even "truth") of such a philosophy may reside in its indicating the
>little nazi in us all, which seems on the whole to be the most likely
>case.
>
>David Westbrook
>Social and Political Thought
>York University
>dwest@xxxxxxxx
>
>
> --- from list heidegger@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx ---
>
>
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I do agree with you that the unfortunate political positions
of Heidegger in the 30's should not be used as an argument to disqualify his
whole philosophical project. After all, philosophical questions go beyond
biography.
Anyway, it is not impossible at all to build a dangerous
relation between some theses of BT and a certain irrationalism that could be
read as preparing the ground to fascist theories.
One such relation is Heidegger's theory of truth. In this
context, unless one is able to answer to the criticism raised by authors
like Tugendhat and Apel, that point to the fact that, by establishing a
criteria of ontological truth --- the famous aletheia --- as a
non-verifiable foundation, Heidegger is actually cutting from philosophy its
crtical-regulative function, this irrationalist reading becomes very
credible. Of course, I do believe that it is possible to answer this
criticism, but I am just pointing to a clever argument as you asked for.
Another very disturbing passage in Heidegger, disregarding
here his Rectoral Address, is the passage in the - An Introduction to
Metaphysics - where he speaks about the "historical mission" of the German
people. As you know, the image of a historical destiny was cherished dearly
by Nazi propaganda.
Alexandre Parola
>
David wrote:
I think that any philosophy can be used to justify naziism if the
>philosopher is so inclined. The question, to my mind, is are there any
>necessary connections between a given philosophy and naziism and, if
>so, how do we interpret these? If Heidegger's "philosophy of
>authenticity" is intimately tied to naziism in some way (and I have yet
>to see any intelligent argument for or against this) it need not lead
>us either to abandon Heidegger or to embrace naziism. The adequacy (or
>even "truth") of such a philosophy may reside in its indicating the
>little nazi in us all, which seems on the whole to be the most likely
>case.
>
>David Westbrook
>Social and Political Thought
>York University
>dwest@xxxxxxxx
>
>
> --- from list heidegger@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx ---
>
>
--- from list heidegger@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx ---
------------------