[lit-ideas] Re: Re Heidegger for Lawrence

  • From: Phil Enns <phil.enns@xxxxxxxxx>
  • To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Fri, 4 Dec 2009 10:18:25 +0700

Lawrence Helm wrote:

"You must know that while [Heidegger] was rector he urged students and
faculty to trust not in themselves but in the Fuhrer."

Yes, he did this.  But Heidegger also understood the Fuhrerprinzip as
a historical phenomenon, so that obedience was not to an individual as
an individual, but rather to the truth of history, within which the
Fuhrer played a role.  If I remember correctly, Heidegger understood
the Fuhrer as part of a larger unfolding of the world.  This
understanding was incompatible with the Nazi philosophers who
understood Hitler as the center around which the world was going to be
shaped.  It seems to me that when Heidegger finally accepted that his
understanding of the Fuhrerprinzip was incompatible with National
Socialism, he again 'turned'.

One can fault Heidegger for his treatment of his colleagues and
students.  One can fault Heidegger for using National Socialism to
further his career ambitions.  One can fault Heidegger for not sooner
rejecting National Socialism.  However, I just don't see that his
philosophy is compatible with National Socialism.  And the way the
Nazis treated Heidegger seems to suggest that they also didn't see
Heidegger as a natural ally.  Heidegger wanted to place the Fuhrer
under a larger unfolding world, while the Nazis wanted the world to
unfold under the Fuhrer.  Two very different 'philosophies'.

Finally, even when he was urging obedience to the Fuhrer, Heidegger
argued that this was necessary according to reason.  Again, I would
like to see a text where Heidegger dismisses reason.


Sincerely,

Phil Enns
Yogyakarta, Indonesia
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