Date: Sat, 23 Jan 1999 12:43:47 +0100
Subject: Re: Heidegger in Germany


Michael Eldred wrote:

> So-called Critical Theory has propagated a sociologization 
> of Heidegger's thinking which serves as fertile soil for 
> people like Lotz.

Rightly so. By becoming a member of the NSDAP Heidegger also became a
sociological and psychological problem: How is it possible that one of
Germany's greatest thinkers does think wrong when it matters? 
Heidegger delivered a severe blow to the belief in the quality of German
thinking. His refusal to admit that he made a mistake only made things
worse. Thanks to people like Adorno, Habermas and others like them
German thinking still has a raison d'etre.
However, there is more. It is amazing how well Heidegger is treated
after the war, in particular by his students abroad - and in particular
in France. Levinas, for example, a pupil of Heidegger and a Frenchman,
does his utmost to make his teacher's thinking respectable again.
Strasser - and many others - thinks well of this attempt. The title of
his excellent introduction to Levinas' philosophy is: Jenseits von Sein
und Zeit (On the other side of Being and Time).
Only by seeing Heidegger as the thinker he is - through the eyes of his
predecessors, his critics, his students or in other ways - one may
restore what is worthwhile in his thinking without directly falling in
the trap of fascistoid thinking as Heidegger himself did, and did
without remorse.

Henk



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