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Saturday, February 16, 2013

In the Financial Times, a review of Yvonne Sherratt's Hitler’s Philosophers.
Sherratt’s chapter on Martin Heidegger, the renowned philosopher of phenomenology, is a powerful portrait of collaboration, and corruption of the best. He endorsed the sacking of his erstwhile mentor Edmund Husserl after the dismissal of Jews from the civil service and academia in 1933. Heidegger even removed his dedication to Husserl from subsequent editions of his magnum opus Being and Time. He lectured in a Nazi uniform. As late as 1942 he was still praising National Socialism and “its unique historical status”. He defended Hitler’s regime and war aims well into 1944.
It'll be interesting to see if there's anything new to substantiate some of those assertions, or if it's just a rehash of what's already be published; with the usual arguments from hearsay and volvo fallacies. Did he lecture in SA or Stahlhelm uniform (with armband)? At retreats in Todtnauberg, or for regular classes in Freiburg? What was the context in 1944?

1 comment:

  1. And what chance was there to get a next edition of S&Z published, now with the Nazis running the presses, with the original dedication?

    And there's good reason why the whole MH/EH contretemps is an oeuvre of its own

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