A review of Martin Heidegger: A Political Life by Hugo Ott (translated by Allan Blunden, published by Fontana Press, pb £8.99, 407 pages).

Martin Heidegger is arguably the most important philosopher of the Twentieth Century. According to this book he was also a devout Nazi who never recanted his evil political beliefs.

During the Second World War Martin Heidegger lived and worked in Germany. There are a number of sympathetic accounts of how he spent his time.

1. The "He quietly Worked Away at Philosophy" theory.

According to this theory Heidegger ignored the outside world, and continued to do his philosophy, working on ancient Greek thinkers, Holderlin, Nietzsche and so on, until the war was over and he was able to - well, carry on ignoring the outside world and continue with his philosophy!

One little problem with this theory is the fact Heidegger was appointed Rector of the University of Freiberg from 22 April 1933 until he resigned on 23 April 1934, this was a major position on Nazi Germany, and so he cannot have been totally lost to the outside world.

2. The "He Tried to Do Good as a Rector" Theory

According to this theory Heidegger had the Rectorship pushed upon him, and thought he could do some good opposing the Nazis. When he realised he could do no good, he went back to philosophy (see theory 1, above).

Ott shows there are enough falsehoods in this sentence to write a book about (the one under review). Firstly, Heidegger joined the Nazi group at Freiberg and was their candidate for the post of Rector - he was the official Nazi choice. Secondly, he certainly didn't oppose the Nazis once he took the post - he pushed the Nazi cause and hastened the process of Gleichschaltung, the Nazi reorganisation of the universities. One of his most obvious achievements was the imposition of the 'Sieg Heil' Nazi salute within the University. Finally, the reason he resigned from the post is due to a power struggle within the Nazi party which Heidegger lost.

3. The "Heidegger's Nazism wasn't real Nazism" Theory

According to this theory Heidegger was a bit out of touch with the real world, and completely mistook Nazism for quite a nice political theory. He might have gone about with a little Nazi label badge and given the Hitler salute, but in his head he was not really a Nazi.

It certainly appears to be true that Heidegger thought only he could explain the meaning of Adolf Hitler, and aspired to be the Nazi's leading intellectual. He saw the coming of Hitler as the advent of Being itself. In his Rectorship address he says "let not your being be ruled by doctrine or 'ideas'. The Fuhrer himself and he alone is the German reality, present and future, and its law".

Yet Heidegger wasn't simply concerned with using his Rector's position to achieve intellectual power. He paid close attention to everyday matters, such as attending Nazi student 'military' exercises, and at the Rectorship inauguration ceremony ensuring the Nazi anthem, the Horst-Wessel Lied, be printed on the back of the programme.

4. The "But He Always Acted Honourably" Theory

According to this theory, Heidegger might have innocently been led astray by Nazism, but he was still basically a good person - if rather naive.

Heidegger cannot be called a "good person" even before his Nazi period. He typically took from anyone offering, and never gave anything in return. Edmund Husserl is a good example of this - Heidegger played the "good pupil" while Husserl did all he could to get Heidegger the chair at Marburg, but after obtaining the position Heidegger turned his back on Husserl, closed all personal ties and almost immediately began attacking his work.

In Nazi Germany Heidegger happily denounced those he did not like to the authorities - the case of Hermann Staudinger, who Heidegger denounced to the Gestapo is a good example. He tried to block Eduard Baumgarten's academic career by claiming he was a friend of Jews ("he established close contact with the Jew Fraenkel, who used to teach in Gottingen and has now been dismissed from there"). Other examples are where Heidegger blocks academically able students if they have a negative attitude to the Nazi state (e.g. he does this with Max Muller in 1938/39).

5. The "He Was Only a Nazi For a Short Time" Theory

This theory admits that Heidegger was a Nazi for a short time - in the early 1930s - but that he soon realised its true nature and quickly escaped from it.

As can be seen from the report he sends to the Freiberg office of the League of University Lecturers on Max Muller's negative attitute to the National Socialist state in 1938/39, Heidegger's ties to Nazism last a lot longer than his defenders would like to admit.

In 1935 Heidegger is still writing about the "inward truth and greatness of National Socialism", and even as late as 1942 he writes against academics who do "no service to National Socialism and its unique historical status - not that it stands in need of such favours". Clearly Heidegger was a supporter of Nazism even into the 1940s. After the war it is well known that he was reluctant to speak of his time in Germany under the Nazis, and certainly he never spoke openly against Nazism.

So what are we to make of a philosopher of massive importance, who has been hugely influential not only in philosophy but in many other fields - such as psychology, literary theory and theology - who nevertheless turns out to be "a Party comrade and pioneer of National Socialism" (in the words of one Nazi)?

This whole episode surely leaves a question mark over philosophy's claim to be a "love of wisdom", but perhaps it only places the question mark against Heidegger's particular style of philosophising. I like to contrast his pitiful story with Bertrand Russell's political instincts after the Russian Revolution. Russell travelled to Russia and even spoke to Lenin, and his writings of the time show an excellent grasp of the situation. Overall Russell's political writings are well worth reading and show good judgement and a clear understanding of political problems.

Perhaps our conclusion must be that beyond the value of his writings, it is Heidegger's life which teaches us a lesson in philosophy.

John Mann