At the Existentialist Café (54 page)

73
  Heidegger reading
The Magic Mountain
: Safranski,
Martin Heidegger
, 185.

74
  Davos: the conference ran from 17 March to 6 April 1929, with around 300 scholars and students attending. See Cassirer and Heidegger,
Débat sur le Kantisme et la philosophie
; Gordon,
Continental Divide
; Michael Friedman,
A Parting of the Ways: Carnap, Cassirer, and Heidegger
(Chicago & La Salle, IL: Open Court, 2000), and Calvin O. Schrag, ‘Heidegger and Cassirer on Kant’,
Kant-Studien
58 (1967), 87–100. See also Heidegger,
Kant and the Problem of Metaphysics
, 5th edn, tr. R. Taft (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1997). On the influence of Kant on Husserl and Heidegger, see Tom Rockmore,
Kant and Phenomenology
(Chicago & London: University of Chicago Press, 2011).

75
  Seeing one world end: F. Poirié,
Emmanuel Lévinas: qui êtes-vous?
(Paris: La Manufacture, 1987), 79. Not everyone agrees with this stark interpretation: see Gordon,
Continental Divide
, 1.

76
  ‘As awkward as a peasant’, etc.: Toni Cassirer,
Mein Leben mit Ernst Cassirer
(Hildesheim: Gerstenberg, 1981), 181–3, tr. Peter Collier in P. Bourdieu,
The Political Ontology of Martin Heidegger
(Cambridge: Polity, 1991), 48–9. Maurice de Gandillac, who was there, explicitly compared Heidegger’s appeal to that of Hitler: Gandillac,
Le siècle traversé
, 134.

77
  Levinas’ lampoon and regrets: Gordon,
Continental Divide
, 326–7, citing interview with Richard Sugarman, who spoke to Levinas in 1973.

78
  ‘What Is Metaphysics?’: Heidegger, ‘What Is Metaphysics?’, in
Basic Writings
, 81–110, this 95.

79
  ‘The total strangeness of beings’: ibid., 109. (On uncanniness, see also BT, 233/188.)

80
  ‘Why are there beings’: ibid., 112.

81
  ‘The things of the world’: Petzet,
Encounters and Dialogues
, 12.

82
  Rejecting Heidegger’s work and ‘I arrived at the distressing conclusion’: Kisiel & Sheehan,
Becoming Heidegger
, 398 (Husserl to Ingarden, 2 Dec. 1929), and 403 (Husserl to Pfänder, 1 Jan. 1931).

Chapter 4: The They, the Call

1
    Heidegger after First World War: see Heidegger,
Letters to his Wife
, 55 (17 Oct. 1918).

2
    Aron in Germany: Aron,
The Committed Observer
, 26.

3
    Weil in Germany: Weil, ‘The Situation in Germany’, in
Formative Writings
, 89–147, this 97–8 (originally published in
L’ecole émancipée
, 4 Dec. 1932 to 5 March 1933).

4
    Weil on revolutionary potential: ibid., 106.

5
    Mail surveillance, etc.: Haffner,
Defying Hitler
, 96.

6
    Beauvoir on not worrying: POL, 146.

7
    Murder and oddity stories: POL, 130.

8
    Rome trip: POL, 153–4.

9
    ‘I rediscovered irresponsibility’: Sartre, ‘Cahier Lutèce’, in
Les Mots et autres écrits autobiographiques
, 907–35, this 210 (a notebook written sometime between 1952–4).

10
  Beauvoir’s visits: POL, 180, 184 (Feb.); POL, 191–6 (June).

11
  Blood on mayonnaise: POL, 147.

12
  Jaspers on his mistake: Jaspers, ‘On Heidegger’, 119. Beauvoir on French students: POL, 180. For others, see also Haffner,
Defying Hitler
, 156, and Fest,
Not I
, 42.

13
  Raising an arm: Bruno Bettelheim,
The Informed Heart
(Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1986), 268.

14
  Uncanniness, anaesthesia, yoked: Haffner,
Defying Hitler
, 112, 126.

15
  Fragmentation and demagogues: Arendt,
The Origins of Totalitarianism
, 317, 478.

16
  ‘Banality of evil’: Arendt,
Eichmann in Jerusalem: a report on the banality of evil
.

17
  
Think!
: see Arendt,
The Life of the Mind
, I, 5.

18
  
Was heisst denken?
: the English translation renders it as
What Is Called Thinking?

19
  
Das Man
: BT, 164/126.

20
  Responsibility/answerability: Stambaugh has ‘responsibility’, M&R ‘answerability’: BT, 165/127; Heidegger,
Being and Time
, tr. Stambaugh, 127/124.

21
  Voice: BT, 313/268. Calls Dasein to itself: BT, 319/274. Alien or uncanny form: BT, 321/276–7.

22
  Schickele: quoted in Ott,
Heidegger
, 136.

23
  Anti-Semitic remarks: Kisiel & Sheehan,
Becoming Heidegger
, 413 (Husserl to Dietrich Mahnke, 4–5 May 1933).

24
  Arendt: her questions are not preserved, but his answer is, in Arendt and Heidegger,
Letters
, 52–3 (Heidegger to Arendt, undated but winter 1932–3).

25
  Book burning: Ott,
Heidegger
, 189, 194.

26
  ‘Black Notebooks’: Heidegger,
Überlegungen
, ed. Peter Trawny, GA, 94–6 (2014), generally referred to as the
Schwarze Hefte
(Black Notebooks), and containing his notes from 1931 to 1941. Heidegger wished them to be published last in his collected edn, and their appearance has caused much debate. See for example Richard Wolin, ‘National Socialism, World Jewry, and the History of Being: Heidegger’s Black Notebooks’,
Jewish Review of Books
(6 Jan. 2014); Peter Trawny, ‘Heidegger et l’antisémitisme’,
Le Monde
(22 Jan. 2014); Markus Gabriel, ‘Der Nazi aus dem Hinterhalt’,
Die Welt
(13 Aug. 2014); G. Fried, ‘The King is Dead: Heidegger’s “Black Notebooks” ’,
Los Angeles Review of Books
(13 Sept. 2014); and Peter E. Gordon, ‘Heidegger in Black’,
New York Review of Books
(9 Oct. 2014), 26–8. For a fuller commentary by the volumes’ editor, see Peter Trawny,
Freedom to Fail: Heidegger’s anarchy
(Cambridge: Polity, 2015). The discovery led Professor Günter Figal, chair of the Martin Heidegger Society in Germany, to resign in Jan. 2015, saying that he no longer wished to represent Heidegger. For much earlier background and evidence on Heidegger’s Nazism, see Ott,
Heidegger
, and Wolin (ed.),
The Heidegger Controversy
.

27
  Rectorial address: Heidegger, ‘The Self-Assertion of the German University’ (27 May 1933), tr. William S. Lewis, in Wolin (ed.),
The Heidegger Controversy
, 29–39, quoted sections 34–6. Also see contemporary
newspaper reports in Guido Schneeberger,
Nachlese zu Heidegger: Dokumente zu seinem Leben und Denken
(Berne: Suhr, 1962), 49–57; and Hans Sluga,
Heidegger’s Crisis: philosophy and politics in Nazi Germany
(Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1993), 1–2.

28
  Declaration: Heidegger, ‘Declaration of Support for Adolf Hitler and the National Socialist State’, 11 Nov. 1933, tr. in Wolin (ed.),
The Heidegger Controversy
, 49–52, this 51.

29
  Summer camps: Ott,
Heidegger
, 228–9, citing Heidegger’s letter of 22 Sept. 1933 to university teaching staff.

30
  Husserl’s status: ibid., 176

31
  Flowers and letter: Elfride Heidegger to Malvine Husserl, 29 April 1933. The letter survives only as a copy transcribed by Frédéric de Towarnicki in his ‘Visite à Martin Heidegger’,
Les Temps modernes
(1 Jan. 1946), 717–24, this 717–18, here as translated in Kisiel & Sheehan,
Becoming Heidegger
, 411–12. For the Husserls’ response, see Kisiel & Sheehan, 412–13 (Husserl to Dietrich Mahnke, 4–5 May 1933), and Ott,
Heidegger
, 174–7.

32
  Disappearing dedication: Ott,
Heidegger
, 173.

33
  Border situations: Jaspers,
Philosophy
II, 178–9. Lived, existential situations: 159, 335–6.

34
  Expecting to die young: Gens,
Karl Jaspers
, 50, citing Gertrud Jaspers to Arendt, 10 Jan. 1966. Managing energies: 24–7. Breath and pauses: 113–15.

35
  Heidegger amazed: Heidegger & Jaspers,
The Heidegger–Jaspers Correspondence
, 162 (Heidegger, draft letter to Jaspers, 6 Feb. 1949).

36
  ‘I think about your study’: Arendt & Jaspers,
Hannah Arendt/Karl Jaspers Correspondence
, 29 (Arendt to Jaspers, 29 Jan. 1946).

37
  ‘True philosophy needs
communion
’ and ‘Uncommunicativeness’: Jaspers,
Philosophy
II, 100.

38
  Letters, visits and plans: Gens,
Karl Jaspers
, 158; Heidegger & Jaspers,
The Heidegger–Jaspers Correspondence
, 39 (Jaspers to Heidegger, 6 Sept. 1922), 42 (Jaspers to Heidegger, 24 Nov. 1922).

39
  Heidegger’s silences: Jaspers, ‘On Heidegger’, 110. Uncanny feeling: Heidegger & Jaspers,
The Heidegger–Jaspers Correspondence
, 40 (Heidegger to Jaspers, 19 Nov. 1922).

40
  Revolution needed: Jaspers, ‘On Heidegger’, 109. Views on style, and the challenge and denial: 111–14.

41
  ‘Estranging’: ibid., 112.

42
  ‘One must get in step’ and the talk: ibid., 117.

43
  ‘It is just like 1914’ and hands: ibid., 118.

44
  ‘Now I must say to myself’: Kirkbright,
Karl Jaspers
, 148, citing Gertrud Jaspers’ letter to her parents, 29 June 1933. Heidegger’s rudeness: Arendt & Jaspers,
Hannah Arendt/Karl Jaspers Correspondence, 630
(Jaspers to Arendt, 9 March 1966).

45
  ‘Ashamed’: Heidegger & Jaspers,
The Heidegger–Jaspers Correspondence
, 185 (Heidegger to Jaspers, 7 March 1950). Jaspers sceptical: Arendt & Jaspers,
Hannah Arendt/Karl Jaspers Correspondence, 630
(Jaspers to Arendt, 9 March 1966).

46
  ‘It was nice to see it’: Heidegger & Jaspers,
The Heidegger–Jaspers Correspondence
, 149 (Jaspers to Heidegger, 23 Aug. 1933).

47
  Failing Heidegger: Jaspers, ‘On Heidegger’, 118–20.

48
  Realising that life could not continue unaltered: Bruno Bettelheim,
The Informed Heart
(Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1986), 258–63.

49
  Marcel and crispation: Gabriel Marcel, ‘On the Ontological Mystery’, in his
The Philosophy of Existence
, 1–31, esp. 27.

50
  Staying awake: Gabriel Marcel, ‘Conversations’, in Marcel,
Tragic Wisdom and Beyond
, 217–56, this 249. He wrote something similar in
Men Against Humanity
, tr. G. S. Fraser (London: Harvill, 1952), 81–3.

51
  
Meaning of Dasein’s Being is Time
: BT, 39/17.

52
  ‘Being-towards-Death’ (
Sein zum Tode
): BT, 279/235.

53
  ‘Anticipatory resoluteness’: BT, 351/304. Giving it up: BT, 308/264.

54
  Jonas: Hans Jonas, ‘Heidegger’s Resoluteness and Resolve’, in Neske & Kettering (eds),
Martin Heidegger and National Socialism
, 197–203, this 200–1.

55
  Resigning: Ott,
Heidegger
, 240–41, and letter of resignation quoted 249.

56
  Restored dedication: ibid., 173, 178.

57
  Harassed by party: Heidegger, ‘The Rectorate 1933/34: facts and thoughts’, in Neske & Kettering (eds),
Martin Heidegger and National Socialism
, 15–32, this 30–32.

58
  ‘The Rectorate’: ibid., 17.

59
  
‘Dummheit’
: Towarnicki, ‘Le Chemin de Zähringen’, 125.

60
  ‘Dreaming boy’: Heidegger & Jaspers,
The Heidegger–Jaspers Correspondence
, 186 (Jaspers to Heidegger, 19 March 1950).

61
  Berlin academy proposals: Farías,
Heidegger and Nazism
, 197–202, citing Heidegger’s letter to Wilhelm Stuckart, 28 Aug. 1934; also see Safranski,
Martin Heidegger
, 279–81.

62
  Rome and Nazi pin: Löwith,
My Life in Germany
, 59–60.

63
  Müller: Max Müller, ‘Martin Heidegger: a philosopher and politics: a
conversation’, in Neske & Kettering (eds),
Martin Heidegger and National Socialism
, 175–95, this 189–90. (Interview with Bernd Martin and Gottfried Schramm on 1 May 1985.)

64
  Responses to Heidegger’s Nazism: Heidegger’s involvement was well known from the start. Sartre knew of it in 1944, as did the French occupiers in his area of Germany after the war. More was revealed by a major collection of documents published in 1962: Guido Schneeburger’s
Nachlese zu Heidegger
. When I was studying Heidegger in the early 1980s, the Nazi question did not loom large, partly because of a then-prevalent view that questions of life and personality were not significant in considering the philosophy. In 1987 this changed, with the Chilean historian Victor Farías’
Heidegger y el Nazismo
(
Heidegger and Nazism
), a work condemning Heidegger’s entire philosophy as contaminated by his Nazism. There ensued a ‘Heidegger affair’, especially in France, with some arguing that Heidegger’s philosophy was unaffected by his politics, and others joining Farías’ denunciation. Observing from Germany, the Freiburg historian Hugo Ott wrote ‘in France a sky has fallen in —
the sky of the philosophers
’ (Rockmore,
Heidegger and French Philosophy
, 155). Ott then published his own extensively documented account of Heidegger’s Nazi activities in 1992, including much material from the Freiburg city archives:
Martin Heidegger: unterwegs zu seiner Biographie
(
Martin Heidegger: a political life
). The discussion subsided until a new ‘Heidegger affair’ in 2005 when Emmanuel Faye’s
Heidegger
found further Nazi evidence in Heidegger’s seminars of 1933–4, and similarly concluded that the philosophy was tainted. A still more recent Heidegger affair began in 2014 with the publication of his private notebooks from 1931 to 1946 (GA, 94–6), showing clear pro-Nazi and anti-Semitic views.