Heidegger National Socialism

3 Credits · Level: Graduate

In this seminar we will examine Martin Heidegger’s path from Being and Time (1927) to National Socialism (1933). Although we will discuss the biographical details of Heidegger’s life and activity as a professor of philosophy and, for one year, the Rektor (faculty president) of the University of Freiburg, the focus of the seminar will be on the question whether there is a discernible philosophical route from the existentialist ontology of Being and Time to its apparent antithesis in his 1933–34 seminar, “On the Essence and Concept of Nature, State, and History.” The first part of the semester will be devoted to understanding the nature of the National Socialist movement in Germany and to Heidegger’s biography. We will then consider an overview of some the central relevant themes of Being and Time. Then we will turn to the 1933– 34 seminar and related texts from the early 1930s to try to reconstruct Heidegger’s path. We will finish with a brief look at what Peter Trawny has called Heidegger’s “being-historical anti- Semitism.” Prior familiarity with Heidegger and Being and Time is helpful but not required. I will provide resources for those not familiar with Being and Time to get on top of the major themes. Requirement: an end-of-semester research paper of approximately 20 pages.