[lit-ideas] Re: Why Heidegger?
- From: cblists@xxxxxxxx
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 27 Mar 2014 10:03:25 +0100
A not insignificant element in my own response to the 'Nazi Heidegger' question
was the attitude of the Nazis themselves towards Heidegger.
Heidegger's philosophy was scorned by Nazi 'ideologists', and Heidegger himself
was viewed as someone who merely played at being a Nazi. Here is what some of
the Nazis close to the center of power thought of Heidegger and his work (as
reported by Ruediger Safranski in _Ein Mesiter aus Deutschland: Heidegger und
seine Zeit_):
To Erich Jaensch (psychologist), Heidegger was a "gefaehricher Schizophrener"
[dangerous schizophrenic]; Heidegger's works were "psychopathologische
Dokumente", his thought was at the core "talmudisch-rabulistisch" -
"Banalitaeten mit dem Schein von Bedeutsamkeiten" [banalities with the
*appearance* of meaning]. Jaensch warned that Heidegger would quickly 'change
his colours' should the Nazi revolution lose momentum.
To Ernst Krieck (pretender to the role of 'official' philosopher of the Nazi
movement), Heidegger's position was one of "metaphysischer Nihilismus" -
"nichts darin von Volk und Staat, von Rasse und alle werten unseres
nationalsozialistischen Weltbildes" [there's nothing in it about 'people' and
'state', about 'race' and all the values of our national-socialist world view].
To Walter Gross ("Leiter des Rassenpolitischen Amtes" [leader of the department
for racial politics] of the NSDAP), Heidegger's version of national socialism
contained "so gut wie gar keine . . . nationalsozialistisch brauchbaren
Elemente" [in effect absolutely no elements useful to national-socialism].
The Nazis wanted Heidegger 'onside' because of his international reputation;
but his philosophical 'program' was viewed with mistrust and suspicion. Far
from seeing Heidegger's 'shadowy generalities' as 'ideally appropriate', Krieck
warned that ultimately Heidegger would drive the German people into the 'saving
arms of the church'. Heidegger was, in the opinion of Krieck and others, simply
not the man for the task of "der Bewegung einen geistigen und ethischen Kern zu
schaffen" [producing a spiritual and ethical core for the movement]. As great
as the Nazi's need for 'an overarching philosophical system' may have been,
Heidegger was most definitely not seen by them as the man to supply it.
Chris Bruce
Kiel, Germany
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