In-der-Blog-sein

The Marketplace of Ideas links to the Zizek article on "Which is worser? National Socialism or International Communism?", curious about Heidegger.

After reading a bit more, it seems that Heidegger was a true believer, at least for a time. While he fell out of favor, he was definitely on board with the Nazis for a while. Not good.

Define good. Useful as a lesson in hubris. Another warning not to trust philosophers with your future. Don't depend on figures of authority to make decisions for you, make up your own mind, now. The future is unwritten.

On a related note, on the Heidegger Dialognet mailing list, Dennis Sepper, who's written on philosophy and science reflects on what he's learned about Heidegger, and the list itself.

I do not consider myself to be a Heideggerian in my philosophizing about technology, and would never give him the last word (not least because, despite his treatment of traffic signals and broken hammers, he leaves so obscure our manifold engagements with technologies). Still, I think that Heidegger, like no other before him, has shown an aspect (and that itself is a laughably inapt term) of our world, an aspect we take for granted and have learned ever more easily to inhabit without thinking.

My hope is that on this Heidegger list it should be possible to ask questions, to float ideas, to get recommendations and motivation for future reading, to hear reactions to lines of argument, to remind one another of where there are passages relevant to our expressed concerns in Heidegger's works and in the secondary literature, to have our attention called to other and larger considerations.

Yeah, well, you have to take mailing lists for what they are. No public forum is ever going to be what a single participant might ideally want. At least today mailing lists appear to have gotten over the spam problem, that in the late 90s was swamping out the mail messages actually intended for the specific lists. Malanderers and flame wars will likely always haunt public forums, but you may still find some lists rewarding. Just treat yourself by using the delete button generously.  ¶ 9:11 AM