Jun

9 2018

Dangerous Minds: Nietzsche, Heidegger, and the Return of the Far Right

1:30PM - 2:30PM  

First Narayever Congregation
Head cover expected from all visitors 187 Brunswick Av.
Toronto, ON M5S 2M4
416.416.927.0546 (Phone)
416.927.0486 (Fax)
admin@narayever.ca
https://www.narayever.ca/

Contact Reuven Shlozberg
education@narayever.ca

As primary targets/victims of European fascism in the 20th century, Jews have special reason to be fearful of the current revival of this ugly politics (or variations thereof) – in Russia, in Europe, and even in the United States. And judging by the vicious slogans chanted in Charlottesville last August and recent events in Poland and Hungary, Jews have not ceased to be prime targets of 21st century fascists. This talk engages with the two main philosophical roots of the current far-right resurgence – Friedrich Nietzsche (whom Hitler admired) and Martin Heidegger (who wore a Nazi uniform and gave ardently pro-Hitler speeches). If these two thinkers managed to get tangled up in the deplorable politics of fascism in the first half of the twentieth century, do we need to be concerned about their philosophies as potential resources for far-right politics in the present and the future?

Ronald Beiner is a Professor of Political Science at the University of Toronto and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. He is the author of seven books, including Civil Religion (2011) and Political Philosophy: What It Is and Why It Matters (2014). He is also editor or co-editor of seven books, including a posthumous edition of Hannah Arendt’s Lectures on Kant’s Political Philosophy (published in Hebrew, among many other languages). His latest book is Dangerous Minds: Nietzsche, Heidegger, and the Return of the Far Right (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2018).

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