ABSTRACT
Heidegger's politics, and the debate as to whether his philosophy lends itself readily to Nazi ideology, is normally considered central to reading and interpreting his thought. Heidegger, like many German völkischer conservatives had, even during the Weimar Republic. In 1962 Guido Schneeberger published all Heidegger's original rectorial speeches. The facts suggest that far from being pressured into the job, Heidegger used the rectorship as a platform for an energetic attempted foray into the political arena. In spite of this, Heidegger, unlike many other German philosophers of the time, was not prejudiced against German philosophy written by German Jews. Heidegger saw his 'existential decision' for National Socialism as a step towards 'authenticity'. Pierre Bourdieu is one of several authors who assert that Being and Time is a crypto-fascist text. In his book The Political Ontology of Martin Heidegger he argues that the ontology of Dasein is in fact a 'political ontology' that paves the way for Nazism.
