Heidegger as a Colonial Thinker: Puritanism and Germany’s Errand into the Wilderness

In the turbulent 1930s, Martin Heidegger gave a lecture on “Logic as the Question Concerning the Essence of Language.” Upon close inspection, this text expounds a form of covenantal thinking guided by the Puritan theme of an errand into the wilderness. The proffered analysis shows how Heidegger invo...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Critical research on religion
Main Author: Weidler, Markus (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Sage 2023
In: Critical research on religion
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains:B Heidegger, Martin 1889-1976 / Colonialism / Kulturnation / Nationalism / Racism / Puritanism
IxTheo Classification:AB Philosophy of religion; criticism of religion; atheism
AD Sociology of religion; religious policy
KBB German language area
ZC Politics in general
Further subjects:B eschatological racism
B Heidegger
B Puritanism
B Colonialism
B Cultural Nationalism
Online Access: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Description
Summary:In the turbulent 1930s, Martin Heidegger gave a lecture on “Logic as the Question Concerning the Essence of Language.” Upon close inspection, this text expounds a form of covenantal thinking guided by the Puritan theme of an errand into the wilderness. The proffered analysis shows how Heidegger invokes a poetic conception of colony to reconfigure Germany’s self-image as a culture nation in search of a “new past.” What can be gleaned from this account is a central but neglected link between Heidegger’s thought and colonial discourse, in uneasy proximity to a special form of eschatological racism which divides humanity into spiritual classes marked by varying degrees of fitness for salvation.
ISSN:2050-3040
Contains:Enthalten in: Critical research on religion
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1177/20503032231174206