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Martin Heidegger was one of the twentieth century's most distinguished philosophers, crucial in defining the cultural and philosophical position inhabited by Western civilization, whose influence has spread far throughout many academic fields. His 1927 book Being and Time, his first major publication, broke the trend of Western philosophy which had dominated thinking since Descartes. It set the tone of the radically new patterns of thought in an era grounded in technology in society, and the reaction to the death of God, as defined at the end of the previous century by Nietzsche, in philosophy. Martin Heidegger was also however, a Nazi. Although his active involvement with the regime as rector of Freiburg University lasted less than a year, he had been a supporter of Nazism, and continued to be, for much of his life. What reactions does this bring upon his philosophy - were his politics and philosophy concurrent with each other, or were there distinct and important differences between them?
Heidegger's view then of the new regime was often as a catalyst for the birth of some kind of higher culture. "The question is whether or we want to create a spiritual world. If we cannot do so, some kind of savagery or other will come over us and we will reach an end as a historical people. " (Heidegger, p. 126) This seems to be a highly civilized, optimistic, almost Nietzchian view of the benefits of Nazism in Germany, which was, however, in total contradiction with the realities of the time. How could Heidegger, a brilliant intellectual, have spoken of the new Nazi regime as the antitheses (potentially at least) of some kind of savagery, when the political turmoil of the day expressed itself in mass arrests, oppression and racial violence, the partys brown - shirted SA thugs given the legitimacy to wreak havoc nation - wide? Although the regime may not have yet graduated to the mass slaughter of the war years, savage would have been an apt description of the time.
Heidegger sought "discipline and education, " in a regime characterized by confused chaos in the streets and government, and ignorance and naivety in leadership. These misunderstandings were widespread; the Nazi regime was admired in England for its supposedly tight leadership and social cohesion, which of course was the public face of a regime which privately simply eradicated the old, infirm, disabled, politically dissident and morally or racially distasteful to create the illusion of a society at ease with itself.
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Research essay sample on Nazi Regime Martin Heidegger
