[Xmca-l] Re: Heidegger's Notebooks Renew Focus on Anti-Semitism - NYTimes.com

[David H Kirshner]

Nazi-aligned ideology also played out in the world of mathematics during Hitler's rule. 

Mathematics had been moving strongly toward a formalist orientation since the latter part of the 19th century. A remnant of a more concrete conception of mathematics survived in a school of mathematics known as Intuitionism. Intuitionists rejected the Law of the Excluded Middle. That's the logical principle that permits proof by contradiction. Briefly it states if P is a proposition, then either P is true or ~P (the negation of P) is true. There is no middle ground that permits both or neither to be true. This law enables mathematical proofs of the following form: Supposing we want to prove some proposition P. Let's start out by assuming that ~P is true. Then we explore what else can be logically derived based on that premise. If we find that ~P leads us to a contradiction, any contradiction, then we are entitled to conclude that ~P is false, from which the Law of the Excluded Middle assures us that P must be true. 

In rejecting this form of reasoning, intuitionist mathematicians insist on a sense of positive proof; one positively establishes some conclusion, rather than merely showing that its negation leads to a contradiction. This mathematical ethic was embraced by some mathematicians during the Third Reich as an Aryan style of mathematics that countered the disembodied and "Jewish" style of mathematics that everywhere was becoming the norm--I'm sure connections to Heidegger's phenomenology can be made here. Through national political influence, these Intuitionists gained control of the German mathematicians' organization DMV and used that platform to purge many leading Jewish mathematicians from their university posts. Unlike the philosophical realm which remains open to diverse foundational framings, the mathematical tide was already set. The regression of German mathematics back to a more romantic and embodied style, by crippling the logical investigation of mathematics, produced no lasting intellectual legacy. 

For more on this, see:
Mehrtens, H. (1993). The social system of mathematics and National Socialism. In S. Restivo, J. P. Van Bendegem, & R. Fisher (Eds.), Math Worlds (219-246). Albany, NY: SUNY Press.

David

-----Original Message-----
From: xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu [mailto:xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu] On Behalf Of Martin John Packer
Sent: Monday, March 31, 2014 8:55 AM
To: eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity
Subject: [Xmca-l] Re: Heidegger's Notebooks Renew Focus on Anti-Semitism - NYTimes.com

Yes, the problem runs deeper than Heidegger:

<http://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/G/bo3645200.html>

Martin

On Mar 31, 2014, at 4:48 AM, Dr. Paul C. Mocombe <pmocombe@mocombeian.com> wrote:

> As an african/haitian, I am baffled when contemporary scholars want to ban heidegger from philosophy for his so-called antisemitism.   By their logic, people of African descent should be clamoring for the banishment of almost all scholars since descartes who showed any sign of racism in their writings.
> 
> 
> Dr. Paul C. Mocombe
> President
> The Mocombeian Foundation, Inc.
> www.mocombeian.com
> www.readingroomcurriculum.com
> www.paulcmocombe.info
> 
> <div>-------- Original message --------</div><div>From: David Kellogg <dkellogg60@gmail.com> </div><div>Date:03/30/2014  10:47 PM  (GMT-05:00) </div><div>To: "eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity" <xmca-l@mailman.ucsd.edu> </div><div>Subject: [Xmca-l] Re: Heidegger's Notebooks Renew Focus on Anti-Semitism -
> 	NYTimes.com </div><div>
> </div>Martin:
> 
> I've only seen short extracts from the "Black Notebooks", but what 
> I've seen suggests that the real problem is not time but precisely the 
> problem of "worlding" which was mentioned earlier.
> 
> Jews, according to the "Black Notebooks", are an "unworlded" people, 
> and because of that they are necessarily parasitic upon peoples who 
> are deeply and profoundly in the world, i.e. his truly.
> 
> http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/31/books/heideggers-notebooks-renew-foc
> us-on-anti-semitism.html?_r=0
> 
> It's a big world, and there are lots of other things to read. They are 
> only short extracts, but they are more than enough.
> 
> David Kellogg
> Hankuk University of Foreign Studies
> 
> On 31 March 2014 10:02, Martin John Packer <mpacker@uniandes.edu.co> wrote:
>> Hi David,
>> 
>> Yes, this always the problem with Heidegger: his appalling politics, 
>> both professional and personal.  However, the conceptual problem he 
>> was working on was also important to philosophers with very different 
>> politics. For example, Lucien Goldmann found parallels between 
>> Heidegger and Lukacs (ref below). I find it helpful to (try to) 
>> understand what Heidegger was trying to do, and also understand how a 
>> philosopher of human existence was unable to prevent himself from 
>> becoming a very unpleasant human being. (The problem lies in his 
>> treatment of time, in my view.)
>> 
>> Martin
>> 
>> Goldmann, L. (1979). Lukacs and Heidegger: Towards a new philosophy. Routledge and Kegan Paul.
>> 
>> 
>> On Mar 30, 2014, at 7:10 PM, David Preiss <daviddpreiss@gmail.com> wrote:
>> 
>>> As an aside to the ongoing references to Heidegger... May be of interest or not.
>>> DP
>>> mobile.nytimes.com/2014/03/31/books/heideggers-notebooks-renew-focus
>>> -on-anti-semitism.html?referrer=
>>> 
>>> Descarga la aplicación oficial de Twitter aquí
>>> 
>>> 
>>> Enviado desde mi iPhone
>> 
>> 
> 
>