Martin Heidegger's ties to Nazism have tarnished his stature as one of the towering figures of twentieth-century philosophy. The publication of the Black Notebooks in 2014, which revealed the full extent of Heidegger's anti-Semitism and enduring sympathy for National Socialism, only inflamed the controversy. Richard Wolin's The Politics of Being: The Political Thought of Martin Heidegger has played a seminal role in the international debate over the consequences of Heidegger's Nazism. In this edition, the author provides a new preface addressing the effect of the Black Notebooks on our understanding of the relationship between politics and philosophy in Heidegger's work. Building on his pathbreaking interpretation of the philosopher's political thought, Wolin demonstrates that philosophy and politics cannot be disentangled in Heidegger's oeuvre. Volkisch ideological themes suffuse even his most sublime philosophical treatises. Therefore, despite Heidegger's profundity as a thinker, his critique of civilization is saturated with disturbing anti-democratic and anti-Semitic leitmotifs and claims.

About the Author
Richard Wolin is distinguished professor of political science, history, and comparative literature at the Graduate Center at the City University of New York. His books include Heidegger's Children: Hannah Arendt, Karl Lowith, Hans Jonas, Herbert Marcuse (2001), Karl Lowith's Martin Heidegger and European Nihilism (1995), and The Heidegger Controversy: A Critical Reader (1991).

Reviews
This new edition documents, in ways not previously possible, the extent to which Heidegger's political ideas, and more importantly, his most fundamental philosophical preoccupations - the origins of mathematics, science, and technology - were closely bound up with his anti-Semitism and Nazi beliefs. -- Anson Rabinbach, Princeton University Wolin's own style-plain, forceful, explicit-already makes a philosophical, ethical and even political point: that the best way to resist the "seduction" of unreason is to cultivate a language that allows for rational discourse and debate, not to conceal one's intentions behind obfuscation and allusion. -- Robert E Norton, University of Notre Dame ?In what may be the best available study of Heidegger's relation to Nazism, Wolin demonstrates that Heidegger's followers fail in their effort to distinguish between his philosophical thought and his political views and deeds. In fact, Heidegger's thought was inextricably combined with his decision to support the Nazis. Although resisting the temptation either to belittle Heidegger's considerable philosophical achievements or reduce them to the status of apologetics of fascism, Wolin nevertheless makes clear that, henceforth, we must read Heidegger's writings with an awareness of their political implications. DISSENT ?A splendid book: vigorously argued but at the same time cautious, provocative but at the same time thoroughly responsible and discriminating. -- Klemens von Klemperer The American Historical Review ?A very lucidly written and persuasively argued brief for the claim that Heidegger's involvement with National Socialism 'was rooted in the innermost tendencies of his thought'... Wolin surpasses even Habermas. -- Horst Mewes The American Political Science Review ?[Wolin's book] moves at once to occupy the high ground of debate-that is to say, Heidegger's own texts-and to throw down the gauntlet to Heidegger's latter-day defenders and apologists... Wolin reminds those of us who still need reminding just how prominent is Heidegger's place in the sorry annals of such bad faith. -- Paul Thomas Theory and Society ?The most serious and systematic attempt so far to understand the complex and hidden links between Heidegger's philosophy and his politics. -- Michael Lowy Thesis Eleven ?Sophisticated in argument and careful in documentation.? -- Mark Warren The Journal of Politics



Book Information
ISBN 9780231179331
Author Richard Wolin
Format Paperback
Page Count 288
Imprint Columbia University Press
Publisher Columbia University Press