Micheal,
>Also, I'm a little worried about your "children of a lesser god"
>analogy. Without indulging in all the vulgar bullshit that surrounds
>this question, I think it is pretty clear that Heidegger's politics were
>not only motivated by his philosophy but were also "philosophical" in
>their formulation and motivation. Historically, it is the case that he
>did preach Nazism (to use another poster's terms), and it is perhaps the
>most intriuging and difficult task to look at his work with his politics
>in mind.
Okay, before I was uninterested in Heidegger's political views (with good
reason) but there is something that I wanted clairified (is there an honest
to goodness Historian in the house?). While I knew that Heidegger preached
(and even emraced "socialism", I was unaware of him preaching "Nazi-ism"
(whatever we may want to define that as). As far as reading his work with
his politics in mind, I feel thetwo should be separated. To the best of my
knowledge, Heidegger did not write any major political treatise (I may be
wrong) and his personal politics would seem pretty unnecessry in any
discussion concerning his ontological standpoint. I suppose the arguement
could be made that his ontology must come from his own senses of the world
and that his politics might have an effect on it. However, the effect would
not be what is important in a discussion concerning his philosophy itself.
It would be equally interesting to discuss how Mozart's politics may or may
not have affected the style of music he wrote. However, doing so would not
change a single note of the music.
-NIK
--- from list heidegger@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx ---
------------------
>Also, I'm a little worried about your "children of a lesser god"
>analogy. Without indulging in all the vulgar bullshit that surrounds
>this question, I think it is pretty clear that Heidegger's politics were
>not only motivated by his philosophy but were also "philosophical" in
>their formulation and motivation. Historically, it is the case that he
>did preach Nazism (to use another poster's terms), and it is perhaps the
>most intriuging and difficult task to look at his work with his politics
>in mind.
Okay, before I was uninterested in Heidegger's political views (with good
reason) but there is something that I wanted clairified (is there an honest
to goodness Historian in the house?). While I knew that Heidegger preached
(and even emraced "socialism", I was unaware of him preaching "Nazi-ism"
(whatever we may want to define that as). As far as reading his work with
his politics in mind, I feel thetwo should be separated. To the best of my
knowledge, Heidegger did not write any major political treatise (I may be
wrong) and his personal politics would seem pretty unnecessry in any
discussion concerning his ontological standpoint. I suppose the arguement
could be made that his ontology must come from his own senses of the world
and that his politics might have an effect on it. However, the effect would
not be what is important in a discussion concerning his philosophy itself.
It would be equally interesting to discuss how Mozart's politics may or may
not have affected the style of music he wrote. However, doing so would not
change a single note of the music.
-NIK
--- from list heidegger@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx ---
------------------