Heidegger’s Nazi past and obscure late prose drove away former admirers

Evidence

Several admirers who had previously followed Heidegger’s path now turned away from him, appalled by both his Nazi past and the qualities of his late philosophy. Hannah Arendt wrote to Jaspers from America in 1949 describing Heidegger’s post-‘turn’ lectures on Nietzsche as a ‘quite awful’ form of ‘babbling’. She also disapproved of his hiding out in Todtnauberg to grumble about modern civilisation, safely remote from potential critics who did not bother to climb up a mountain just to reprimand him. ‘Nobody is likely to climb 1,200 metres to make a scene’, she claimed. — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café, 603

Categorization

• XREF: The Arendt/Heidegger relationship and her sharp judgment of his late work echoes the messy personal-philosophical entanglements central to this book’s narrative. — connects to: Heidegger deliberately writes obscurely to produce an estrangement akin to Brecht’s theatre — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café: Freedom,…, 204; Heidegger appeared to lack character rather than possess bad character — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café: Freedom,…, 307; Heidegger retained Nazi sympathies well after his rectorate resignation — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café: Freedom,…, 298 (+7 more)

Broader Connections

• Heidegger hid career-damaging political judgments behind claims of truthfulness #expands (0.80) — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café, 300
• Heidegger’s Nazi involvement remained a recurring French intellectual scandal #corroborates (0.75) — David Harvey, The Condition of Postmodernity, 1311