Kuhn vs Popper - About James H. Collier

sciences. (Back then, the philosophers were ‘Neo-Kantian’; today they are ‘Neo-Kuhnian’.) However,Heidegger was distinguished by his deep roots inCatholic theology, which led him to associatephilosophy’s fallen status with a loss of spiritualrootedness in the world more generally – thesolution to which required a turn back to basics, or‘Being-in-the-world’. Thus, Heidegger became thephilosopher of the ‘homeland’, or Heimat, forwhich the Nazi Party became the principal politicaloutlet. Heidegger courted the Nazis, and once inpower, they appointed him Rector of FreiburgUniversity, a post he held for a year before herealised that the Nazis were not closely followinghis advice. At that point he went into self-imposedexile without ever renouncing party affiliation. Thesignificance of Heidegger’s silence was investigatedby the De-Nazification commission after WorldWar II, but all it got were evasive answers that leftthe matter unresolved. What is clear, however, isthat for his remaining 30 years, Heidegger neverdeclared a change of heart or mind about the Nazisor his involvement with them.That the critical gaze should be nowadays sofirmly fixed on intellectuals aligned with worldhistoriclosers like Heidegger is somewhat surprising.The critics tend to be, like Aron, political realistswho hold that there are no unmitigated goods or171