Thinking and Killing: Philosophical Discourse in the Shadow of the Third Reich

by Alon Segev

This book explores the phenomenon of the Third Reich from a philosophical perspective. It concentrates on the ways in which the subjects and experiences of Nazi Germany, the Holocaust and Anti-Semitism are conceived by eight German thinkers from the Continental tradition. These eight intellectuals include Martin Heidegger, Hannah Arendt, Karl Löwith, Carl Schmitt, Ernst Jünger, Jean Améry, Hans-Georg Gadamer, and Jan Assmann. Based on careful philosophical examinations of both known and unknown texts of these eight thinkers (including an English translation of two forgotten texts by Schmitt and Jünger), this study exposes and then explores the tension between ideology and philosophy, between submission to authority and genuine critical thinking, all of which constitute the essence of the Continental philosophical tradition.

Genres: Philosophy

113 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2013

Reviews

[Erik Graff · Rating 3 out of 5]

Alon Segev is a close friend. A 'critical theorist', he teaches philosophy at Loyola University Chicago and had taught that and Jewish studies at various schools in the U.S. and Europe. I studied philosophy in graduate school, mostly the great system-builders, thinkers like Hume, Locke, Hegel and, especially, Kant. My sense of 'critical theory' is that it is the work of criticizing such constructions and takes off with later thinkers like Husserl and Heidegger, both of whom I've read, neither of whom I've well understood. Consequently, this book was often above my head, Heidegger being the most prominent figure referenced, his Nazi sympathies being notorious.