PHIL 6555 Heidegger and Politics

Thiscoursewill examine the connection between Heideggers thought and politics, in his own work, in scholarly debates about the extent and meaning of this connection, and in relation to contemporary issues in global politics. We will begin with an intensive review of concepts and themes inBeing and Time, especially those having to do with the historicity of community. We will then read key texts from Heideggers period of political engagement, such asIntroduction to Metaphysics, Being and Truth, his political speeches, and the Black Notebooks to analyze Heideggers conception of the history of Being in its relation to politics and what he deems the metapolitical features of the Western traditions slide, starting with Plato, into metaphysics, nihilism, and the technicity of modernity. We will conclude with an examination of the debates over the meaning and legacy of Heideggers political thought and what this can tell us about contemporary politics.