[lit-ideas] Re: Heil Heidegger?

Robert,

That wasn't my objection, if you were referring to me.  Romano & Faye did
indeed assert that there was a connection between Heidegger's philosophy and
his politics.  However, they neglect to say what it was -- and the sort of
assertive rant they engage in doesn't inspire confidence --that is, I am not
willing to take them at their word.  I have read Hugo Ott and some others on
Heidegger's politics.  I did this back in the early 90s, and while I can't
bring to mind any association of his politics to his philosophy, I would be
willing to consider some evidence on this point.  On the face of it, I can't
reconcile what little I know about Heidegger's philosophy with what I know
about National Socialism.  I don't see the relationship, nor has anything
I've read here demonstrated one.

And, if there is no correlation between Heidegger's philosophy and his
politics, then surely we can invoke the Monica Lewinski explanation: What
goes on in the privacy of the President's mind and the oval office does not
necessarily correlate to his decisions as Commander in Chief.   And that is
all I'm asking for here.  If there is a correlation, what is it?

Lawrence

-----Original Message-----
From: lit-ideas-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:lit-ideas-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]
On Behalf Of Robert Paul
Sent: Monday, November 02, 2009 2:47 PM
To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: Heil Heidegger?

Some replies here to Romano?s over-the-top review of Emmanuel Faye?s book
seem to address an argument he did not make, an argument common in the
history of ideas: that someone?s unsavory views or vicious acts diminish
whatever he or she creates or writes, sometimes beyond redemption--so that
if it turns out that Leonardo was  a child molester, the Mona Lisa should
banished from the Louvre.

That is not what?s being argued in the book he damns with excessive praise.
In the discussion following the piece, ?zdenekv? explains this fairly well,

?The Heideggerians have always been keen to defend their master by drawing a
sharp distinction between his philosophical work and his politics and in
this way they can make the following defensive move :  
"you are confusing two different things and hence are guilty of a type of
category mistake or at least are not thinking clearly : you are confusing
questions of philosophical merit which has to do with things like whether
what the philosopher says is true , plausible , valid , sound , novel et.
with questions that have to do with whether he was a good , wise and
sensible person. But these are two different questions and therefore ( this
is the key move ) it is simply confused to think that you can show that
Heidegger's philosophical work has no philosophical merit by showing that he
was misguided in his political judgments."

?But this classic attempt to get H off the hook doesn?t stand up because the
argument falsely assumes that there are no connections between H's
philosophy and his politics. But that assumption is false and once this
point is made the critic of Heidegger (Romano is making similar point I
think ) can make the following two points : a) since there is an intimate
internal connection between H's work and his Nazism, Heidegger's politics is
a reductio of his philosophy or at least parts of it , and b) since there
are intimate connections between H?s philosophy and his politics his
philosophy constitutes a philosophical rationalization of Nazism.?

Whether H?s Nazism is part and parcel of his philosophy, so that the latter
is an expression of the former, I do not know; but an argument of the form,
?Jefferson?s views on slavery are one thing, but his political views are
another,? is, as an argument against Romano/Faye, a mere ignoratio elenchi.

Robert Paul
The Reed Institute
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