Heidegger: The Introduction of Nazism into Philosophy in Light of the Unpublished Seminars of 1933-1935 Book

In the most comprehensive examination to date of Heidegger’s Nazism, Emmanuel Faye draws on previously unavailable materials to paint a damning picture of Nazism’s influence on the philosopher’s thought and politics.

In this provocative book, Faye uses excerpts from unpublished seminars to show that Heidegger’s philosophical writings are fatally compromised by an adherence to National Socialist ideas.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 naïve, temporarily disoriented academician and instead shows him to have been a self-appointed “spiritual guide” for Nazism whose intentionality was clear. Contrary to what some have written, Heidegger’s Nazism became even more radical after 1935, as Faye demonstrates. He revisits Heidegger’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. Faye’s book was highly controversial when originally published in France in 2005. Now available in Michael B. Smith’s fluid English translation, it is bound to awaken controversy in the English-speaking world.

Library Journal

Faye (philosophy, Univ. Paris Ouest-Nanterre La Défense) provides a well-argued and accessible case—first published in France in 2005—for holding Martin Heidegger (1889–1976) morally responsible for inculcating mid-20th-century European intellectual reason with a virulent strain of fascist irrationality. This fascistic embrace flourished most during 1933–35, and Faye shows how, in spite of stepping down as rector from his university, Heidegger continued to wield and even build popular influence during this era. Relying on a careful reading of the unpublished seminars and the available "complete" works Heidegger's supporters have brought to market, as well as a sound and thorough understanding of the political intricacies of the war period and postwar intellectual allegiances, Faye provides other scholars and general, informed readers with insights on how a reputation was built, the damage it did to others, and how to see it more clearly in our own period. VERDICT This first French study to make such an argument based on an examination of all of Heidegger's work is vastly important to world philosophy. With accessible writing, this is wonderfully recommended for all readers interested in 20th-century continental philosophy.—Francisca Goldsmith, Halifax P.L., N.S.