Heidegger's Fascist Affinities : A Politics of Silence

Reexamining the case of one of the most famous intellectuals to embrace fascism, this book argues that Martin Heidegger's politics and philosophy of language emerge from a deep affinity for the ethno-nationalist and anti-Semitic politics of the Nazi movement. Himself a product of a conservative milieu, Heidegger did not have to significantly compromise his thinking to adapt it to National Socialism but only to intensify certain themes within it. Tracing the continuity of these themes in his lectures on Greek philosophy, his magnum opus, Being and Time, and the notorious Black Notebooks that have only begun to see the light of day, Heidegger's Fascist Affinities argues that if Heidegger was able to align himself so thoroughly with Nazism, it was partly because his philosophy was predicated upon fundamental forms of silencing and exclusion. With the arrival of the Nazi revolution, Heidegger displayed{u2014}both in public and in private{u2014}a complex, protracted form of silence drawn from his philosophy of language. Avoiding the easy satisfaction of banishing Heidegger from the philosophical realm so indebted to his work, Adam Knowles asks whether what drove Heidegger to Nazism in the first place might continue to haunt the discipline. In the context of today's burgeoning ethno-nationalist regimes, can contemporary philosophy ensure itself of its immunity? - from the publisher's website Cover......Page 1 Contents......Page 6 Acknowledgments......Page 8 List of Abbreviations......Page 12 Prologue: Hidden in Plain Sight......Page 18 1 Heidegger’s Politics of Silence......Page 24 2 Völkisch Affinities and Renewal of the German Spirit......Page 53 3 The Unsaid in Being and Time......Page 75 4 Withdrawal in Aristotle’s Metaphysics......Page 95 5 Being the Measure: The Pedagogy of Male Self-Mastery......Page 119 6 Being without Measure: Silencing the Feminine......Page 143 7 Land and Volk: The Silent Place of the Black Notebooks......Page 167 Epilogue: Philosophy and Totalitarianism......Page 191 Notes......Page 204 References......Page 218 B......Page 242 D......Page 243 H......Page 244 K......Page 245 M......Page 246 P......Page 247 S......Page 248 V......Page 249 Z......Page 250 Prologue : Hidden In Plain Sight -- Heidegger's Politics Of Silence -- Völkisch Affinities And The Renewal Of The German Spirit -- The Unsaid In Being And Time -- Withdrawal In Aristotle's Metaphysics -- Being The Measure : The Pedagogy Of Male Self-mastery -- Being Without Measure : Silencing The Feminine -- Landscape And Volk : The Silent Place Of The Black Notebooks -- Conclusion : Philosophy And Totalitarianism. Adam Knowles. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. In treating Heidegger's Black Notebooks as central to his philosophical project, this book shows how his philosophy emerges from the same combination of anti-Semitism and ethno-nationalism that produced National Socialism.