THE HEIDEGGER CONTROVERSY: A Critical Reader Edited by Richard Wolin The MIT Press Cambridge, Massachusetts London, England Third printing. 1998 Fint MIT Pren Edition, 1993 C 1991, 1993 Richard Wolin All rights reserved. No pan of this boole may be reproduced in any form by any electronic or mechanical means (including photocopying, recording, or information storage and retrieval) without permission in writins from the publisher. 'This book waa; printed and bound in the United States of America. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Public:ation Data The Hcideggcr controversy: a critical reader I edited by Richud Wolin. - 1st MIT cd. p. an. Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 0-2.61-13166-1. - ISBN 0-2.62.-73101-0 (pbk.) r. Heidegger, Manin, 1889-1976. I. Wolin, Richard. II. Heldeggcr, Mania, 1889-1976. Selections. English. 199J. Bp.79.H.69HH I 5 1993 I 93-dc1O 91 -30017 CIP CONTENTS Preface vii Preface to the MIT Press Edition: Note on a Missing Text ix Introdul:tion: "Over the Line": Retlections on Heidegger and National Socialism Richard Wolin PART I. Texts by Martin Heidegger 2.3 Introdu,tion 2.5 I. The Self-Assertion of the German University (1933) 29 2. Political Texts, 1933-1934 40 3. Letter to the Rector of Freiburg University, November 4, 1945 61 4 Overcoming Metaphysics (1936-1946) 67 5. "Only a God Can Save Us": Der Spiegel's Interview with Martin Heidegger (1966) 91 PART II. Context and Testimony 117 6. Total Mobilization Ernst Junger 1 19 7. My Last Meeting with Heidegger in Rome, 1936 Karl Lowith 140 8. Letter to the Freiburg University Denazification C.ommittee, December 22., 1945 Karl Jaspers 144 9. An Exchange of Letters Herbert Marcuse and Marlin Heidegger 152. PART III. Interpretations 165 10. The Pohticallmplications of Heidegger's Existentialism Kurl Ujwith 167 Contents 1 I. Manin Heidegger: On the Publication of the Lecture5 of 1935 Jurgen flabermas 186 12.. Heldegger's Political Self-Understanding Otto POKKeier 198 13. Heidcggcr's Idea of Truth Ernst Tugendhat 2.45 14. Back to History: An Interview Pie"e Bourdieu 2.64 15. French Hcidegger Wars Richard Wolin 2.72. Bibliography 30 I PREFACE One of the foremost mnundrums of modem European intellectual his-tory mncems the delusion to which Martin Heidegger-probably the century's greatest philosopher-succumbed in 1933: the belief that the National Socialist Revolution represented the "saving power" (Holder-lin) of Western humanity; a power capable of redeeming European culture from the dislocations of a rationalistic, modernizing, and nihilis-tic bourgeois Zivi/isation. It seems likely, moreover, that well after his resignation from the position of rector of Freiburg University in May 1934, Heidegger remained mnvinced that, despite its historical excres-cences and transgressions, a philosophially idealiud version of Na-tional Socialism-whose "inner truth and greatness" had been perverted by ideologues promoting "racial-biological thinking"-was the poten-tial savior of the Western tradition. It would of course be foolish to suggest that, as a result of Heidegger's concerted, short-lived engagement on behalf of the Nazi regime, he would somehow forfeit his status as a significant contributor to the legacy of Western thought. However, at the same time, now that we know the extent of Heidegger's partisanship for the Nazi cause in the early 19305, we cannot help but read him differently. This is true not only because Heidegger the empirial individual was a member in good standing of the Nazi Pany from 1933 to 1945; rather, we now read his work with greater attentiveness insofar as we know that his enthusiasm for National Socialism, far from being a fortuitous political flirtation, was philosophically overdetermined. That is, as numerous documents and lectures from the 19)05 and 19405 attest, the philosopher himself was convinced that there existed profound and enduring resonances between his own philosophkal doctrines and Germany's National Rev-olution. Or, as the Heidegger scholar Otto Poggeler has appropriately remarked, "Whoever does not want merely to judge Heidegger but also to appropriate initiatives and to learn from him must realize that in the r 930s, Heidegger himself placed the decision about the truth of Being as Preface he sought it in a political context." Hence, to rethink Heidegger's philos-ophy requires reading his texts and treatises with special attention to those aspects of his thought that may have facilitated his fateful political engagement of the 1930S. The present compilation of texts is partly intended as a documentary complement to my earlier study of Heidegger's political thinking, The Politics of Being; The Political Thought of Martin Heidegger. And thus, one of the volume's primary goals is to serve as a type of sourcebook and guide to the many fascinating interpretive questions that have arisen around the theme of "Heidegger and National Socialism." To this end, I have sought to present a number of key texts by Heidegger himself, as well as seminal documents and commentaries that situate Heidegger's political involvement both historically and in the context of contempo-rary scholarly debates. Although some of these texts have already been published in English translation, many have appeared in journals that are far from readily accessible to interested readers. Given the numerous controversies, disputes, and polemics that have arisen in the aftermath of "the Heidegger affair," the advantages of rendering many of the key texts accessible in one volume seemed self-evident. With the exception of chapters .. and s ("Overcoming Metaphysics" and "'Only a God Can Save Us': On Spiegel's Interview"), all of the translations have been commissioned for this anthology. I would especially like to acknowledge the assistance of the transla-tors, withoUl whose self-sacrificial labors this volume would have scarcely been possible: Steven Galt Crowell, Jocl Golb, and William S. Lewis. viii PREFACE TO THE MIT PRESS EDITION: Note on a Missing Text The present edition of The Heidegger Controversy: A Critical Reader differs from the original in one significant way: the omission of a text by Jacques Derrida entitled "Philosophers' Hell: An Interview." The text has been omitted at Derrida's insistence. In truth, the word "insistence" doesn't do full justice to the nature of the situation. Derrida and a French attorney threatened a lawsuit against the original publisher of the volume, Columbia Universiry Press, in the event that "Philoso-phers' Hell" were reprinted in any future editions of the book. Derrida's actions-above all, their vehemence-seem peculiar. The interview was originally published in the November 6-12., 1987, issue of l..e Nouvel Observateur, a leading Parisian culturalpolitical weekly. He has contested the propriety of the interview's translationlpublication. Yet a pennissions letter from Le Nouvel ObseTllateur, dated October 13, 1990, unequivocally granted "the nonexclusive right to publish an English language translation for all editions and for sale throughout the world." As a result of Derrida's complaints. not to mention his threat of legal action, Columbia decided to abandon the volume as it was originally conceived. The situation was especially regrettable since the first print run of the book had sold out within a matter of months. I'd like to express my sincere gratitude to The MIT Press for their confidence in the project and their commendable efficiency in ensuring its prompt reissue. One need not be a deconstructionist to appreciate the ironies and par-adoxes that attach lO this "affair within an affair." To begin with, there are the ironies of engaging Derrida in a dispute about the prerogatives Preface to the MIT Press Edition of "authorship." Who, after all, has done more to call into question our inherited conception of integral authorial authority than ja