As everybody knows Heidegger was politically involved in the Nazism and until the end he has never cleaned himself of it. And so is there morally acceptable in order through the prism of his philosophy to refer to the Holocaust? What do you think?
Of course you have right. But with reference to Heidegger, and perhaps every philosopher, problem of investing him in the Nazism is fundamental. His authority has strengthened Nazis Regime, Heidegger has gave the power up admittedly, but to the end of the war he has been a NSDAP's member. The NSDAP was a criminal organization and Heidegger was a member of it, so and a part of responsibility is falling to him. Also H. Arendt thought hard this situation in her letters and works. Similarly K. Jaspers - the great philosopher of XXth century. I think that it isn't possible to separate it what is being propagated from it what is being done. In philosophy is necessary condition of the authenticity.
I suggest you to analyze both positions, Heidegger's and Arendt's, but not through reading their concepts, but through reading and understanding Badio's category of Truth and its relation with the holocaust, Evil.
Jacek, Badiou's concept of Truth is truth procedures / process (politics, love, science and art). Truth procedure is infinite. I think it would have been helpful Badiou's concept of ethics of truth. Badiou argues that Evil is not something other than the Truth. He claims that there is only Truth and fidelity to the truth. Evil is something like a non-fidelity to the truth, precisely perversion of truth (betrayal, delusion, terror). [delusion=nazism] You'll see in the attachment.
Jacek, define what you mean by Holocaust. Secondly, what so-called categories of Heidegger's are you referring to. Thirdly, what historiographical concepts do you presuppose? Regarding National Socialism, did it perhaps arise in response to Bolchevism, the Gulag and the starvation genocide of Ukranians and Russians? Would you say that Stalin represented Criminal organization?
Yes Bernhard i know what you mean. The Holocaust is very controvertial term particularly it is not acceptible by Jews. Holocaust has sacred connotation.
It was propagated by Elia Wiesel, who said that the first using of this term was placed in 1940 years in the short brochure published in Yiddish by title “Shoah Yehudei Polin” (Shoah Polish Jews). In opinion of Lang little number of present readers would know to show on proper origin of this term.
The name “Holocaust” etymologically comes from the ancient Greek language referring to an animal sacrifice offered to a god in which the whole (holos) animal is completely burnt (kaustos). This word often appears in Sentuaginta the Greek translation of Old Testament and has very strong sacred meaning. Probably 12th century monk Richard of Devize was the first recorded chronicler who has used the term holocaustum in Latin. English prier, Thomas Browne employed the word “Holocaust” in his philosophical Discourse Urn Burial in 1658 and for centuries, the word was used generally in English to denote great massacres. However probably for the first time this term used on qualification of mass extermination of population Winston Churchill, and he has made this in reference to genocide which was accomplished by Turks on Armenians during the First World War.
By the 1950s, the English term Holocaust came to be employed as the term for the murder of the Jews in Europe by the Nazis. Although the term is sometimes used with reference to the murder of other groups by the Nazis, strictly speaking, those groups do not belong under the heading of the Holocaust, nor are they included in the generally accepted statistic of six million victims of the Holocaust. The Holocaust began to be used to calling Nazi crime on Jews really in 60th years of XX century, for example in newspaper New York Times it has appeared for the first time in 1970. Since the 1970s, the term has come to be used by scholars and popular writers to refer specifically to the Nazi genocide of Jews. The television mini-series Holocaust is credited with introducing the term into common parlance after 1978.
Today rather everyone knows what Holocaust means. Holocaust is the term for named Nazi's extermination of European Jews during second world war. Of course the another question is problem of genocide. As you knows it is the term of R. Lemkin and its implication is wider as the Holocaust.
dear colleague,
According to Heidegger himself at least, the emergence of concentration camps has to be understood from the perspective of enframing/gestell, so gestell would be the 'category' you are looking for I guess. For an effort to read Heidegger's national socialism from the perspective of his own 'categories', see the link below
Article Naming Being - Or the Philosophical Content of Heidegger's N...
Vincent, thank you very much! But by eframing you means enclose, framing, or something else? German Gestelt is rather wider category...
Stefan, it was not anecdote, but some real fact, because someone asked Heidegger about the Ehics book and he answered that he had already written such book!! It was "Being and Time". At the same time there is taking on some categories of Heidegger's philosophy for example by the term Ereignis to try to describe the Holocaust in the philosophical perspective. See, for instance: D. Diner, Das Ereignis Auschwitz.
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