Synopses & Reviews
In the most comprehensive examination to date of Heideggerand#8217;s Nazism, Emmanuel Faye draws on previously unavailable materials to paint a damning picture of Nazismand#8217;s influence on the philosopherand#8217;s thought and politics.
In this provocative book, Faye uses excerpts from unpublished seminars to show that Heideggerand#8217;s philosophical writings are fatally compromised by an adherence to National Socialist ideas. In other documents, Faye finds expressions of racism and exterminatory anti-Semitism.
Faye disputes the view of Heidegger as a naand#239;ve, temporarily disoriented academician and instead shows him to have been a self-appointed and#8220;spiritual guideand#8221; for Nazism whose intentionality was clear. Contrary to what some have written, Heideggerand#8217;s Nazism became even more radical after 1935, as Faye demonstrates. He revisits Heideggerand#8217;s masterwork, Being and Time, and concludes that in it Heidegger does not present a philosophy of individual existence but rather a doctrine of radical self-sacrifice, where individualization is allowed only for the purpose of heroism in warfare. Fayeand#8217;s book was highly controversial when originally published in France in 2005. Now available in Michael B. Smithand#8217;s fluid English translation, it is bound to awaken controversy in the English-speaking world.
About the Author
Emmanuel Faye is associate professor at the University Paris Ouestand#8211;Nanterre La Dand#233;fense and an authority on Descartes. Michael B. Smith is professor emeritus of French and philosophy at Berry College and the translator of numerous philosophical works into English.