Heidegger and the Jews
Donatella di Cesare
How does the publication of Heidegger's "Black Notebooks" affect our understanding of his philosophy? Can his view of the Jews be explained or overlooked? Or should we instead engage with this difficult question about the philosophers responsibility?
Anti-Semitism takes on a new philosophical relevance in the Black Notebooks.
The Jew is positioned at the heart of Heidegger’s thought, and as central to his philosophy. Yet, to the Jew, inscribed in the history of Being, is also ascribed the greatest fault, the oblivion of Being.
Metaphysical anti-Semitism sheds new light on Heidegger’s adherence to Nazism, which can no longer be considered a mere political interlude, but represents, rather, a key philosophical moment in his work.
Faced with the Black Notebooks, some critics have been quick to accuse Heidegger of being a spooky obscurantist, closing the issue of totalitarianism with a totalitarian gesture. Alternatively, others have lightly acquitted him, thus immediately dismissing the question.
These two gestures are completely inadequate and deeply antiphilosophical. Getting rid of Heidegger, however, would mean getting rid of the difficult questions he has raised, and, above all, erasing the question (perhaps the most complex of all) concerning the responsibilities of philosophers toward the Shoah.
Discussant: Frederik Stjernfelt, University of Copenhagen
About
Donatella di Cesare is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Rome "La Sapienza".
She studied in Rome, Tübingen, and Heidelberg. After having obtained her Ph.D. under the supervision of Eugenio Coseriu at the University of Tübingen (Germany), she was awarded the Alexander von Humboldt fellowship to study with Hans-Georg Gadamer at the University of Heidelberg, while also carrying out research at the Hochschule für Jüdische Studien. She is also member of the teaching staff in the doctoral school in Philosophy.
She has been visiting professor in several universities, among which are Cologne and Freiburg in Germany (2005, 2007). In 2007, she was Distinguished Visiting Professor of Arts and Humanities at Penn State University, USA.
In addition, she has given visiting lectures in many European (Madrid, Berlin, Paris) and American universities (Seattle, Washington, Chicago, Boston).
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