in class today, we talked about some of the greatest philosophers of technology the world has ever known. such great minds like Stephen Kline (no, not the baseball player), Arnold Gehlen, and Martin Heidegger, the latter two being in a very influental group of thinkers called...the NAZIS?? what the flying hell?!? does anyone else feel very uncomfortable that we're taking the philisophical thinking of two people who helped shoot and gas over six milion innocent people?? these characters are very morally questionable considering their backrounds! call me crazy, but i find it hard to believe that the same people who imprisoned and slaughtered innocent lives because of how they were born would have much to say that would be considered deep. whats next, are we gonna have rapists become marriage councelers? if there is a person who took part in several war crimes, i wouldn't be looking to him/her for philosophy! what do you guys think?
1 comment:
You are certainly right to be alarmed about this, and there is a vast and growing literature devoted to understanding it (especially in the case of Heidegger, who is much better known and widely read). Just for the sake of clarification, neither philosopher participated directly in Nazi atrocities. They did, however, join the NSDAP (Nazi political party). In the case of Heidegger, he attempted to explain his involvement with the Nazi party as a form of "damage control"; he joined, he said, so that the Nazis would not completely take over the operations of the university. Heidegger never officially renounced his part membership and remained silent about the holocaust even after the war (he was banned from teaching for a while after the war due to his having been a Nazi party member).
Both Hans Jonas and Hannah Arendt were students of Heidegger. Both were also Jewish. Their reactions to Heidegger after the war were very different, although they remained friends (with each other). Jonas rejected Heidegger's thought due to his Nazi entanglements, while Arendt attempted to defend him and stayed on more or less good terms with him after the war.
These are obviously serious issues, and you are right to call attention to them. Here is a link to some articles by various philosphers addressing the Heidegger case: http://www.beyng.com/hlinks/hnazi.html
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