...finding the latest revelations about Heidegger's anti-semitism to be too much. (If anyone knows of an English translation of the article, please send me the link and I'll add it.)
UPDATE: Reader Robrecht Vandemeulebroecke kindly sends along a quick (and quite good) English translation:
Heidegger Society director steps downAccording to information from [media outlet] SWR, the Freiburg philosopher Günter Figal has stepped down from his position as director of the Martin Heidegger Society. Yesterday Günter Figal declared on [radio station] SWR2 that the anti-semitic passages in the "black notebooks" published last year had shocked him. He felt he was no longer able to represent the Martin Heidegger Society, even though he had never deemed it to be a society for "hero worship". Figal said: "As director of a society bearing a person's name, one in a sense also represents that person, and after reading the black notebooks, especially the anti-semitic passages in the black notebooks, I no longer wish to do so. These utterances have not only shocked me, they have also changed my opinion of him in such a way that it would very difficult for me still to stand for this." De Freiburg philosopher said the time has now come to scrutinize Heidegger's philosophy in the nazi period. Quote Figal: "Heidegger's entanglement in National Socialism has been much more extensive than we could assess until now, and that means that the 1930's phase should be thoroughly re-examined in light of these findings. And this should be possible as soon as the requisite material becomes available." Critical Heidegger studies are hindered by the Heidegger heirs blocking access to thousands of manuscripts stored at the Deutsches Literaturarchiv in Marbach. These manuscripts can only be perused with their permission. Günter Figal hereby joins the critics who have been demanding that this impediment finally be cleared in the interest of study.
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