Heidegger

In article , Michael Eldred writes
>Cologne 29-Oct-2006
>
>Philip Baker schrieb Sun, 29 Oct 2006 00:08:37 +0100:
>
>> In article , Michael Eldred > online.de> writes
>> >If one looks back to the heyday of speculative philosophy in German Idealism,
>> >and the sequence of -isms thereafter through positivism to so-called
>> >’analytical
>> >philosophy’ (analyticism?), it becomes apparent that Heidegger’s diagnosis of
>> >Seinsvergessenheit, even in the metaphysical sense of forgetting the
>> >ontological
>> >difference, has its justification. “Seinsvergessenheit” can be rendered as
>> >’forgetting of being’, ‘oblivion to
>> >being’, ‘ontological amnesia’. It’s as if the Weltgeist had got Alzheimer’s
>> >since the early nineteenth century. Fortunately, it can always recover in
>some
>> >future time.
>>
>> There were plenty of philosophers in Britsh universities during the 19th
>> century that labelled themselves as Hegelians. Only WWI put an end to
>> the reverence shown towards German idealist philosophy.
>
>ME: That was throwing baby out with the bath water.
>In any case, “reverence” is a poor substitute for thinking and, strictly
>speaking, philosophically irrelevant.
>We feeble human beings invariably allow politics (our opinions thereon, our
>political convictions) to get in the way of thinking.
>

Perhaps reverence was the wrong word to use but in the second half of
the 19th century idealism in its various forms was dominant in British
philosophy being strongly influenced by German idealist philosophy even
after it was perhaps already on the wane in Germany. Hegel was taken
seriously rather than ridiculed as he has been in some other times amd
places or often just ignored.

But where did reverence, or something short of reverence, become a
substitute for thinking? What philosopher do you have in mind?

As for politics, are politics and thought mutually exclusive?
–
Philip Baker

Posted on Tuesday, October 31st, 2006 at 7:10 pm
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