Date: Wed, 27 Jan 1999 12:27:41 +0100
Subject: Re: Heidegger in Germany


Rafael,

You write:
> where does he say this? 

He says this in the passage you refer to. It is about 
the role of leaders [not: leader!] in these - horrible 
- times.

> and when? is it no important that he wrote this in
> 1942? and not in 1951?

The text in my Neske edition is a reprint of the 
article of 1951. I do not have the original text. And 
therefore cannot know what Heidegger wrote during the 
war. And will we ever? It all depends on Hermann 
Heidegger, the son. 
 
> H. thinking was, contrary to Platon, _worldly_ thinking. So, in some way it
> took him less effort to project it into the political arena. Plato was
> coming from _above_.

Could it be that Heidegger's thinking returns to Plato and 
his _epistaemae politikae_ in 1934-1944? I have the strong 
impression that he did. And that this return goes hand in 
hand with his interest in real politics - even after the 
debacle of the rectorate.    

> What is for us difficult to
> separate is the view of 1933 without what happened afterwords. But look at
> what H. did not afterwords: he did not went to Berlin, he did not become a
> chief ns personality (as for instance Gehlen, who is still very high
> appreciated in the academia!). 

This is the question Sluga answers in his excellent book.
And compared with others Heidegger is small fish - seen
from a political point of view. The problem is that he 
represents German and therefore continental philosophy 
in those years - and still does in a way. 
At the one hand there seems to be a connection between 
Plato's _epistaemae politikae_  - as it is, or as it has 
been taken up by Heidegger - and fascistoid thinking. On 
the other hand, this connection is not a necessary one, 
at least not in the case of Plato. This has been well 
documented. Lacoue-Labarthe and Nancy are doing the same 
for Heidegger. However, their approach is above all full 
of "esprit".

> So, there is a lot to take from this
> thinking, without having the fear (!) of ns etc. 

That is true. And I may be mistaken but I see the problem
Heidegger confronts us with not as something that 
pervades his whole thinking. He is not a system builder
but someone who explores new terrain - and takes a wrong
turn at a certain moment. 

Kindest regards,
Henk



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