Post on 17-Jan-2018
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BEING AND BUILDINGThe Relationship of Martin Heidegger’s Thought to Hitler’s Architecture
FRAMING THE QUESTION
The Puzzle• Martin Heidegger
• Among the most important philosophers of 20th century.
• Also, ardent supporter of National Socialism
• What gives?
Research Question• Were Heidegger’s politics in fact a betrayal of his genius,
or was Nazism a logical extension of his philosophy?
• Some possibilities:• Heidegger was reluctant, confused, or separated politics and
philosophy.• Heidegger’s Nazism was logical; his philosophy supports
autocracy, submission of the individual to the political community, exclusionary and reactionary politics, etc.
• Heidegger’s Nazism was mistaken; he got the best of his philosophy wrong.
Procedure
Heidegger
• Being and Time• Poetry, Language,
Thought• “Building Dwelling
Thinking”
Hitler and National Socialism
• Collected speeches• Albert Speer• Nazi architectural projects
COMPETING INTERPRETATIONS
Themes in Heidegger’s “Dwelling”• Dwelling is being at home in the world, “for one’s place to
show up as a dwelling-place” (Julian Young)
• Deep Ecology• Dwelling in Nature• Building Community• The Fourfold, Heroism, and the Divine
Deep Ecology• Heidegger as non-dualist, non-anthropocentric
• “letting things be”• East Asian philosophy (Mahayana Buddhism, Vedanta, Taoism)
• Not similar to Nazism, but also a misreading
Dwelling in Nature• Allow nature to be a place where humans dwell
• Anti-urban, but to what extent?
• Romantic, pastoral elements to Nazi ideology
• However, Hitler obsessed with urban planning, inhuman scale
Building Community• “worlding of the world” through art, through architecture
• Late-Heideggerian dwelling occurs in such a community
• Interpret building as the work of a culture
The Fourfold• Dwelling brings the Fourfold together
• The Fourfold: earth, sky, gods, and mortals
• What does Heidegger mean by “gods,” or “divinities”?
• If an extension of “heroes,” exemplars of a particular heritage, from his early work, deeply problematic.
• “Only a god can save us now.” (Der Spiegel)
CONCLUSION
Can Heidegger be saved?• All the interpretations of Heidegger offered are
problematic• Perhaps a fifth explanation can be given: that Heidegger’s
thought is rich, complex, and open to interpretation. Yes, Heidegger’s emphases on rootedness, community, and the spiritual rebirth of society lend support to totalitarian, revolutionary movements.
• However, Heidegger also provides profound insights and new thoughts.
• The tension need not be resolved.