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| Home Front: Culture Wars |
| Does a Nazi Deserve a Place Among Philosophers? |
| 2009-11-14 |
| At the same time scholars in disciplines as far flung as poetry and psychoanalysis would be obliged to reconsider their use of HeideggerÂ’s ideas. Although Mr. Faye talks about the close connection between Heidegger and current right-wing extremist politics, left-wing intellectuals have more frequently been inspired by his ideas. Existentialism and postmodernism as well as attendant attacks on colonialism, atomic weapons, ecological ruin and universal notions of morality are all based on his critique of the Western cultural tradition and reason. |
| Posted by:tipper |
| #8 "I speak of Heidegger - I speak of monstrosity! But I do not speak of the nationalist thing!" Jacques Derrida - exegesis of the word "monstrosity" as a "showing" |
| Posted by: borgboy 2009-11-14 23:56 |
| #7 The whole idea that Heidegger was some kind of hardcore Nazi is mostly garbage. Like most intellectuals of his time, he was given two choices in Nazi Germany: play ball or loose his position [at the very least]. He played ball. Most people do. Heidegger's Field Theory of Being and his attempts to understand how language and thought interact with one another are extremely important contributions to Western thought. Time and Being is an important (if extremely difficult to read) book. That's how it is, Nazi or not. |
| Posted by: Secret Master 2009-11-14 23:39 |
| #6 Paul Schmidt AKA Paul Carrel, the German military historian who wrote four outstandinng histories of the Wehrmacht during WWII was a Colonel in the SS and held a position in von Ribbentrop's Foreign Ministry. Do those facts invalidate the work he did or alter historical facts? No it does not. Do these facts color his work? I am certain they do, but I am also know that Carrell limited his writing to he war and he used his extensive contacts within the German military to put together these fine texts. See a more extensive commentary here |
| Posted by: badanov 2009-11-14 07:35 |
| #5 1+1=2 your race or political bent does NOT compute. |
| Posted by: Redneck Jim 2009-11-14 01:42 |
| #4 The nazis were quite negative on Western culture in general. Not surprising that the Left has found common ground. |
| Posted by: gromky 2009-11-14 01:13 |
| #3 Back in my days as a mathematician, I studied Teichmüller spaces. I found out later that Teichmüller was the founder of Deutche Mathematik, the first Judenrein mathematics journal. I still studied the subject, a major portion of Riemann surface theory, but I held my nose when thinking of the man. |
| Posted by: Eric Jablow 2009-11-13 22:16 |
| #2 Werner Heisenberg comes to mind also. |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2009-11-13 21:31 |
| #1 Does a Commie? |
| Posted by: ed 2009-11-13 19:42 |