My Take | Some big German thinkers have no qualms about genocide
- The country’s best known ‘liberal’ post-war philosopher has come out in support of Israel’s scorched-earth military campaign in Gaza
On May 27, 1933, after taking up the prestigious post of rector of the University of Freiburg, Martin Heidegger delivered probably the most infamous public speech in the annals of German philosophy, “The Self-assertion of the German University”.
What should have been a solemn occasion was turned into a National Socialist carnival. He gave his lecture in exaltation of the existential being of the German nation, the German university and of course, the Fuhrer amid giant signs of the swastika, shouts of Sieg Heil, the Nazi salute, and party anthems.
The philosopher whom many specialists in the field regard as the greatest thinker of the 20th century was a proud card-carrying Nazi, not just someone forced into the role.
It would be hard to find someone more different from Heidegger than Jurgen Habermas, probably the most famous German philosopher of the post-war era.
As a philosophical defender of the liberal-democratic constitutional order, he has few contemporary rivals. Fewer have offered a stronger defence of democracy as forming the public sphere for consensus-building, norm-enforcing and truth-seeking.
Therefore, many were shocked when Habermas co-signed a statement in November essentially justifying Israel’s murderous military campaign in Gaza and calling on Germany to support the Jewish state, no matter what. Following Israel’s party line, it blames Hamas for forcing the retaliatory strike.
It said: “The Federal Republic’s democratic self-image, which is based on the obligation to respect human dignity, is linked to a political culture for which, in light of the mass crimes of the Nazi era, Jewish life and Israel’s right to exist are central elements that are particularly worthy of protection. The commitment to this is fundamental for our political coexistence.” But what of the Palestinians’ right not to be murdered en masse, let alone their legitimate claim to independent statehood?