Heidegger's Confrontation with Modernity: Technology, Politics, and Art (Indiana Series in the Philosophy of Technology) [Paperback]

Michael E. Zimmerman (Author)

Book Description

Series: Indiana Series in the Philosophy of Technology | Publication Date: May 22, 1990

"Writing in a lively and refreshingly clear American English, Zimmerman provides an uncompromisingly honest and judicious account... of Heidegger's views on technology and his involvement with National Socialism.... One of the most important books on Heidegger in recent years." —John D. Caputo

"... superb... " —Thomas Sheehan, The New York Review of Books

"... thorough and complex... " —Choice

"... excellent guide to Heidegger as eco-philosopher." —Radical Philosophy

"... engrossing, rich in substance... makes clear Heidegger's importance for the issue of technology, ethics, and politics." —Religious Studies Review

The relation between Martin Heidegger's understanding of technology and his affiliation with and conception of National Socialism is the leading idea of this fascinating and revealing book. Zimmerman shows that the key to the relation between Heidegger's philosophy and his politics was his concern with the nature of working and production.

Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Indiana University Press (May 22, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0253205581
• ISBN-13: 978-0253205582
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #882,308 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Perceptive, careful evaluation of a major philosopher., March 18, 2002

By 

Louise Westling (Eugene, Oregon United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Heidegger's Confrontation with Modernity: Technology, Politics, and Art (Indiana Series in the Philosophy of Technology) (Paperback)

This book is an extremely well-informed and thoughtful evaluation of the historical and political contexts of Martin Heidegger's philosophy. Zimmerman is thoroughly familiar with Heidegger's philosophy and makes it accessible to the reader, without watering it down. He is respectful of Heidegger's contributions to Western philosophy at the same time that he carefully anatomizes the deeply troubling relationship of Heidegger's thought to reactionary Modernism and National Socialist ideology of 1930s Germany. No one interested in twentieth-century philosophy can afford not to read _Heidegger's Confrontation with Modernity_.

7 of 63 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Absolutely Incredible Feat of Academic Hornswaggling., July 12, 2001

By 

New Age of Barbarism "zosimos" (EVROPA.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Heidegger's Confrontation with Modernity: Technology, Politics, and Art (Indiana Series in the Philosophy of Technology) (Paperback)

This book should be read by every patriotic American so as to realize exactly what is going on in our universities. The author presents a philosophy in total opposition to the liberal democracy found in America and the natural (biological) relationship between man and woman. It appears that the universities have become breeding grounds for fascist ideology (disguised in PC psychobabble BS) and the progressive feeding of the victimization complex of certain radical feminists (whose beliefs express their OWN psychopathology more than anything else).

For instance, can anyone in their right mind decipher the following piece of text: "He opposes the metaphysical drive to acquire "master-names" which found and justify totalizing institutions and practices. To this onto-theo-logo-centric metaphysical quest for the ultimate signifier, Derrida opposed the practice of "dissemination," the revelation of the uncontrollable overflow of "SPERM, the burning lava, milk, spume, froth, or dribble of the seminal liquor"". (p. 261)? In the footnote that appears to this piece of work, it is stated "I owe this reference to John Caputo". I can only speculate that this is some sort of inside joke among the elites. God only knows the intention of this passage, but it is interesting to note that I came across the following quote, "Michel Foucault remarked of Jacques Derrida, "He's the kind of philosopher who gives [junk] a bad name."" (from the book _Illiberal Education_ by Dinesh D'Souza).

Among other gems suggested or implicitly supported by this author are: the idea that freedom of speech needs to be abolished as being an instrument of a "totalitarian" system (as evidenced by his implicit support for a statement by Marcuse p. 262) and the idea that the feminine is to be placed in a position above the "dumb brute" masculine (p. 271). The author also suggests that technology is an attempt by the masculine to dominate the feminine nature. This is incredible given the feminist support for the "revaluation of all values" project proposed by the infamous Friedrich "Don't forget the whip!" Nietzsche. It amazes me that the radical feminists find no quibbles with a misogynist such as Nietzsche, but a scientist or technologist with progressive leanings who may even be a woman herself is somehow a "rapist of nature". It's amazing given these feminist assertions that only men are found to be fighting in wars. Perhaps we can understand war as a feminist project to "get back at the male for institutionalized marriage"? In any event, it appears that the university system has become coopted for the geo-political war games projects of feminist Nazis.

While you're reading this don't forget to pay special attention to the ideas of anarchist-fascist Ernst Junger and his glorification of the spirit of war and "total mobilization", which did so well under the Nazis. I can't imagine anyone in the history of political thought who has been this insanely psychopathic.