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

[David Preiss]

Well, that's the opposite of what I have said so far. If we use those standards there is nothing we can really read with peace of mind, starting with the all the classic religious texts. That said, we can judge people actions in its own merit. 

Enviado desde mi iPhone

> El 31-03-2014, a las 12:34, Greg Thompson <greg.a.thompson@gmail.com> escribió:
> 
> David,
> yes, my gut-level reaction is precisely the one that Paul was pointing out:
> if an author is antisemitic, then we take it that his ideas cannot be taken
> up seriously, but if he is anti-African (I'm taking some liberties), as
> with most of those in the Western tradition, I'm mostly okay with it.
> Does that resonate with others?
> -greg
> 
> 
> On Mon, Mar 31, 2014 at 8:46 AM, David Preiss <daviddpreiss@gmail.com>wrote:
> 
>> Greg,
>> Why for you "the antisemitism concern with Heidegger seems to be more
>> problematic than the anti-African concern". Could you please clarify?
>> Thanks!
>> David
>> 
>> On Mar 31, 2014, at 11:20 AM, Greg Thompson <greg.a.thompson@gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>> 
>>> Audre Lourde's words seem relevant to the Heidegger debate and
>> particularly
>>> to the questions that Paul raises:
>>> "For the master's tools will never dismantle the master's house. They may
>>> allow us to temporarily beat him at his own game, but they will never
>>> enable us to bring about genuine change. Racism and homophobia are real
>>> conditions of all our lives in this place and time. I urge each one of us
>>> here to reach down into that deep place of knowledge inside herself and
>>> touch that terror and loathing of any difference that lives here. See
>> whose
>>> face it wears. Then the personal as the political can begin to illuminate
>>> all our choices."
>>> Personally, I've gone back and forth on this quite a bit. I tend to feel
>>> that a tool is a tool and while some tools are better for doing certain
>>> things than others, the tool itself has no destiny in itself. Would
>> anyone
>>> argue differently with Heidegger?
>>> Are we saying that his whole system was fundamentally antisemitic? and
>> that
>>> one cannot take up his thinking without being antisemitic?
>>> And similarly, following Paul, can we take up the ideas of any slave
>> holder
>>> or slave supporter or otherwise racist individual without taking into us
>>> their racism?
>>> Interestingly, for me the antisemitism concern with Heidegger seems to be
>>> more problematic than the anti-African concern. (and this supports the
>>> issue that Paul was raising).
>>> 
>>> -greg
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> On Mon, Mar 31, 2014 at 7:54 AM, Martin John Packer <
>> mpacker@uniandes.edu.co
>>>> wrote:
>>> 
>>>> 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-focus-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
>>> 
>>> 
>>> --
>>> Gregory A. Thompson, Ph.D.
>>> Assistant Professor
>>> Department of Anthropology
>>> 883 Spencer W. Kimball Tower
>>> Brigham Young University
>>> Provo, UT 84602
>>> http://byu.academia.edu/GregoryThompson
> 
> 
> -- 
> Gregory A. Thompson, Ph.D.
> Assistant Professor
> Department of Anthropology
> 883 Spencer W. Kimball Tower
> Brigham Young University
> Provo, UT 84602
> http://byu.academia.edu/GregoryThompson