LONG-AWAITED VERDICT

The author takes a personal approach to the debate surrounding the Black Notebooks by giving an account of what he owes to Heidegger and then considering how much of a shadow Heidegger's Nazism and anti-Semitism have cast on the following legacy: A. Heidegger radically revised the philosophical vocabulary; B. stipulated that one can philosophize only by starting with oneself (Dasein); C. that Dasein must be distinguished from the "human being;" D. that one should start from Dasein to achieve Sein, or Being, in order to be in it (not merely to know it); E. that focus on Being is necessary to avoid entrapment in any sort of mundane being; F. Heidegger tightly integrated his philosophy into the history of philosophy. But each of these features has an associated weakness: a. Heidegger denigrates a Latinate vocabulary (vs. the "authentic" Greek) as conducive to modernist degradation; b. he sacralized his own Dasein so that he refused to acknowledge his errors; c. distinguished Dasein from the human being, but nevertheless identified Dasein with being German; d. and Being with the German people; e. only mildly criticized certain mundane beings, such as Nazism; f. and finally, his version of the history of philosophy amounts to the conservative stance that "it was better before." Heidegger had been an unequivocal and enthusiastic supporter of Nazism, but the reality of Nazism when it (temporarily) came to power did not long suit him. Heidegger's disappointment with Nazism as experienced made him question Being itself: if Nazism and the Fuhrer failed to meet his high expectations, was Being not corrupted by Machenschaft (perhaps by machinations of the Jews)? The author concludes that Heidegger's impact on philosophy will fade, although his vision of a pre-industrial utopia will increasingly appeal to urban masses exhausted by turmoil.