From: onstott@a.cs.okstate.edu (ONSTOTT CHARLES OR)
Subject: Re: Heidegger and the Nazis
Organization: Oklahoma State University
Date: Wed, 19 Aug 92 00:03:03 GMT

From article <1992Aug18.155120.24195@ccu.umanitoba.ca>, by feld@ccu.umanitoba.ca (Michael Feld):
> Newsgroups: sci.philosophy.meta
> Subject: Re: Heidegger, Hitler, Racism and logic.
> Summary: 
> Expires: 
> References: <Bt4stL.Lxx@unx.sas.com> <1992Aug17.232736.11285@a.cs.okstate.edu>
> Sender: 
> Followup-To: 
> Distribution: 
> Organization: University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
> Keywords: 
>>
>>  Third, as I have already said, and as one who has studied Heidegger
>>for a while, nothing within the writings of Heidegger would support
>>nazism; in fact, it would tend to be contrary to the ideas of Nazism.
>>
>>> 
>>> I would be interested to hear from the Heidegger-volken why it is
>>> that Heidegger seems so attractive to those with a religious
>>> perspective.
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> You might like to read (or re-read) _Heidegger_ in the "Modern
> Masters" series for a taste of just how Heidegger's nazi-ism tied
> intimately to his metaphysics.

And would care to give an example of this tie?  


> As to the tie to religion (and I steal this inspiration from the same
> text), substitute "God" for "Being" throughout _Being and Time_, and see
> how little difference it makes.

   This is, on the one hand, a good point.  In a certain sense, one could
substitute "God" for "Being" throughout _Being and Time_ and arrive at
what may appear on the one hand as a theological text.  That Heidegger
felt a certain theological influence, esp that of Christianity, can not
be denied.  Further, if we were to do as you propose, we still arrive
at the fundamental problem of onto-theology which is, in part, that
which Heidegger is concerned with.

  However, I see no justification, on the other hand, to your second
claim when compared to the first.   I think that you will have to 
select which you feel is more adequate.  If you select the first, 
I am all ears as to how you can arrive at Nazism from his text--even
Derrida, whose methods may be questionable, failed to convience me of 
anything on this regard.  If you select the latter, you have to
be careful when thinking of God in this way.  There is always the
issue of time which puts forth a significant stumbling block to those
who would like to reduce _Sein und Zeit_ to a simple theological 
treatise.  However, to maintain both propositions simulatneously seems
undeniably absurd.


> -- 
> Michael Feld                         | E-mail:  <feld@ccu.umanitoba.ca>
> Dept. of Philosophy                  | FAX:     (204) 261-0021
> University of Manitoba               | Voice:   (204) 474-9136
> Winnipeg, MB, R3T 2M8, Canada	                     

BCnya,
  Charles O. Onstott, III

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Charles O. Onstott, III  Account at Oklahoma State University for summer.
Graduate Student in Religious Studies           onstott@a.cs.okstate.edu
University of Chicago
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