[lit-ideas] Re: Patrick and the Snakes: the logic of falsification [errata]
- From: "Walter C. Okshevsky" <wokshevs@xxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx, Omar Kusturica <omarkusto@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 22 Mar 2013 23:07:25 -0230
To comment would be to grant Hitler a posthumous victory.
Plagiarizing profusely,
Walter O
Quoting Omar Kusturica <omarkusto@xxxxxxxxx>:
>
>
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>
> ________________________________
> From: "cblitid@xxxxxxxx" <cblitid@xxxxxxxx>
> To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Sent: Friday, March 22, 2013 8:02 AM
> Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: Patrick and the Snakes: the logic of falsification
> [errata]
>
>
> On 20-Mar-13, at 4:13 PM, Omar Kusturica wrote:
> I find this somewhat surprising although I am not really a fan of Kant
> (mostly because I find him somewhat dry and not much fun to read), but I
> would hardly suspect him of being an inspiration to Nazism. However, I am
> also a bit tired (would it be possible to point to the passages where Hitler
> quotes Kant, that would help somewhat) and Kant seems to have a better
> standing on this list than Hegel so perhaps others who are better acquainted
> with him could comment. Perhaps this essay could be useful, reminding us
> of the dangers of tailored quotes,composite photographs, logical fallacies
> such as post hoc ergo propter hoc, etc.
>
> O.K. (for now)
>
>
> > Did the SS troops really read Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit on the front
> ?
>
> No - they read Kant.
>
> The following is an excerpt from a discussion on philosophy and militarism in
> which I participated some years ago on a 'Holocaust' discussion list. I
> apologize for its length, but have not the time or strength to edit it.
>
> Some students - and even professors - of philosophy who were "committed to
> absolute truth and universal human values" seemingly found nothing there to
> prevent them from joining the NSDAP or willingly signing up to 'defend' a
> Nazi 'Fatherland'. (Indeed, one can find ample support for the argument that
> feelings of moral and cultural [i.e., 'philosophical'] superiority
> contributed to the conviction that, abhorrent as the 'Nazi' cause, actions or
> policies may have been, it was necessary to ally oneself to them in order to
> avoid what was seen by some as the even greater 'catastrophe' of a
> [philosophically] 'superior culture' being overrun by 'godless communists' or
> 'decadent materialists'.)
>
> Since coming to Germany I have devoted much time to reading not only the
> works of, but also works about, Immanuel Kant. The standard of Kant
> scholarship in Germany in the first third of the twentieth century is quite
> literally breathtaking to one introduced to Kant by English-speaking teachers
> and through English-language commentaries written several decades later. Yet
> in support of the opinion I have expressed above I must mention three
> 'interesting' (as in the *curse*: 'May you live in *interesting* times')
> items.
>
> One is a book on Kant by Houston S. Chamberlain, the Anglo-German racial
> theorist (and son-in-law to Richard Wagner) who provided many of what were
> intended to pass for the 'philosophical' arguments for Aryan/German racial
> superiority. Passages in that book *on Kant and his philosophy* would not be
> out of place (and a closer study - which I do not propose to undertake at
> this time - may find them quoted verbatim) in _Mein Kampf_.
>
> The other items are two copies of a 21-page pamphlet consisting of an excerpt
> from Kant's moral philosophy published in the _Taschenausgaben der
> philosophischen Bibliothek_ [Pocket Editions of the Philosophical Library]
> series. On the back page is an endorsement from a Prof. Dr. Heinrich
> Scholz: "Diese Stuecke sind klassisch; man kann sie immer wieder lesen und
> immer wieder aus ihnen lernen. Und man baut sich aus ihnen heran." ['These
> pieces are classic; one can always re-read them, and always earn from them.'
> The second sentence is difficult to render into 'idiomatic' English - it says
> (more or less literally): 'And one builds oneself up from them.']
>
> The first copy of that pamphlet which I acquired was obviously (once I saw
> the second) a later printing. A general commentary on the series found on
> the last page ends with a sentence relating the popularity of the series:
> "Sie findet . . . steigende Verwendung in Arbeitsgemeinschaften und . . . zu
> Einzelstudium . . ." ['It has found growing use in study groups and for
> individual study . . .'] - and here in the later printing the rest of the
> sentence has been rendered illegible by 'over-printing' with a heavy black
> line.
>
> [A parenthetical note for those unfamiliar with Kant's philosophy. As an
> attempt to ground morality on 'universal truths and absolute human values',
> Kant's moral theory - with its Categorical Imperative: 'act only according to
> that maxim which you can at the same time will to be a universal law' (or in
> another formulation: 'act so that you treat humanity, whether in your own or
> in any other person, always at the same time as an end, and never merely as a
> means') - stands second to none. It is difficult to picture anyone who has
> 'built oneself up from' such a philosophy carrying a NSDAP membership card,
> or fighting either to advance Nazi government policies or defend a country so
> governed.]
>
> The date of publication of the pamphlet is "Anfang 1945" [beginning of
> 1945]. The line which has been 'censored' in a later (presumably
> post-May'45) printing reads: "Sie findet . . . steigende Verwendung in
> Arbeitsgemeinschaften und . . . zu Einzelstudium, *insbesondere an der
> Front.*" ['It has found growing use in study groups and for individual study,
> *especially on the front lines*'].
>
> The image of a soldier fighting on the front lines *with these excerpts from
> Kant's _Kritik der praktischen Vernunft_ buttoned into a pocket bearing Nazi
> insignia* brings a philosopher convinced of the fundamental and enduring
> value of Kant's moral theory to the brink of despair.
>
> Chris Bruce
> Kiel, Germany
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