The Politics of Being: The Political Thought of Martin Heidegger

by Richard Wolin

Overview

Martin Heidegger's ties to Nazism have tarnished his stature as one of the towering figures of twentieth-century philosophy. The publication of the Black Notebooks in 2014, which revealed the full extent of Heidegger's anti-Semitism and enduring sympathy for National Socialism, only inflamed the controversy. Richard Wolin's The Politics of Being: The Political Thought of Martin Heidegger has played a seminal role in the international debate over the consequences of Heidegger's Nazism. In this edition, the author provides a new preface addressing the effect of the Black Notebooks on our understanding of the relationship between politics and philosophy in Heidegger's work. Building on his pathbreaking interpretation of the philosopher's political thought, Wolin demonstrates that philosophy and politics cannot be disentangled in Heidegger's oeuvre. Völkisch ideological themes suffuse even his most sublime philosophical treatises. Therefore, despite Heidegger's profundity as a thinker, his critique of civilization is saturated with disturbing anti-democratic and anti-Semitic leitmotifs and claims.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780231543026
Publisher:	Columbia University Press
Publication date:	11/15/2016
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	256
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

Richard Wolin is distinguished professor of political science, history, and comparative literature at the Graduate Center at the City University of New York. His books include The Terms of Cultural Criticism: The Frankfurt School, Existentialism, Poststructuralism (1992), The Heidegger Controversy: A Critical Reader (1991), and Heidegger's Children: Hannah Arendt, Karl Löwith, Hans Jonas, Herbert Marcuse (2001). He is also the editor of Karl Löwith’s Martin Heidegger and European Nihilism (1995).

Table of Contents

Preface to the 2016 Edition
Preface
1. Heidegger and Politics
2. Being and Time as Political Philosophy
3. "To Lead the Leader": Philosophy in the Service of National Socialism
4. "The Inner Truth and Greatness of National Socialism"
5. Technology, Antihumanism, and the Eclipse of Practical Reason
Notes
Bibliography
Index

Editorial Reviews

In what may be the best available study of Heidegger's relation to Nazism, Wolin demonstrates that . . . Heidegger's thought was inextricably combined with his decision to support the Nazis.

Dissent

A compelling study of the relationship between Heidegger's (1889- 1976) philosophy and his political allegiance to the National Socialist cause in the 1930s, originally published (cloth) in 1990. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews

For readers still attempting not only to penetrate the enigmatic darkness into which one of our greatest philosophers withdrew but also to understand the politics of National Socialism and gain some insight into its cultural genealogy, [Richard Wolin's] The Politics of Being and The Heidegger Controversy will surely prove to be as illuminating as they are thought provoking and unsettling. I highly recommend them.

Political Theory - David Michael Levin

A splendid book: vigorously argued but at the same time cautious, provocative but at the same time thoroughly responsible and discriminating.

The American Historical Review - Klemens von Klemperer

An important and valuable contribution to the literature on Heidegger's political thought.

International Studies in Philosophy - Mitchell Aboulafia

Wolin's own style—plain, forceful, explicit—already makes a philosophical, ethical and even political point: that the best way to resist the "seduction" of unreason is to cultivate a language that allows for rational discourse and debate, not to conceal one's intentions behind obfuscation and allusion.

Robert E Norton

This new edition documents, in ways not previously possible, the extent to which Heidegger's political ideas, and more importantly, his most fundamental philosophical preoccupations – the origins of mathematics, science, and technology – were closely bound up with his anti-Semitism and Nazi beliefs.

Anson Rabinbach

A very lucidly written and persuasively argued brief for the claim that Heidegger's involvement with National Socialism 'was rooted in the innermost tendencies of his thought'... Wolin surpasses even Habermas.

The American Political Science Review - Horst Mewes

Wolin's important new book is the most definitive treatment in English of the political resonances of Heidegger's destruction of metaphysics.

Choice

"Sophisticated in argument and careful in documentation."

The Journal of Politics - Mark Warren

In what may be the best available study of Heidegger's relation to Nazism, Wolin demonstrates that Heidegger's followers fail in their effort to distinguish between his philosophical thought and his political views and deeds. In fact, Heidegger's thought was inextricably combined with his decision to support the Nazis. Although resisting the temptation either to belittle Heidegger's considerable philosophical achievements or reduce them to the status of apologetics of fascism, Wolin nevertheless makes clear that, henceforth, we must read Heidegger's writings with an awareness of their political implications.

DISSENT

[Wolin's book] moves at once to occupy the high ground of debate—that is to say, Heidegger's own texts—and to throw down the gauntlet to Heidegger's latter-day defenders and apologists… Wolin reminds those of us who still need reminding just how prominent is Heidegger's place in the sorry annals of such bad faith.

Theory and Society - Paul Thomas

The most serious and systematic attempt so far to understand the complex and hidden links between Heidegger's philosophy and his politics.

Thesis Eleven - Michael Löwy

The most serious and systematic attempt so far to understand the complex and hidden links between Heidegger's philosophy and his politics.

Thesis Eleven - Michael Löwy