Session Information
Session 6B, The role of the university in higher education
Papers
Time:
2003-09-19
09:00-10:30
Room:
Chair:
David Bridges
Contribution
It is well known fact that great German philosopher Martin Heidegger made one great mistake which was joining to the NSADP in May 3 1933. Although Heidegger joined to the party at time when Nazi parties were not considered as a threat in Great Britain or United States. Many western politicians including President Theodore Roosevelt spoke well on Hitler. Hitler's Germany was considered as some kind of protecting wall against communism. Nevertheless Heidegger's mistake was tragic and he paid the bill for the rest of his life. He never really apologized or explained his action, because he probably could not confront this painful issue.If we look at Heidegger's teaching in 1930s, it is hard to claim that Heidegger actually indoctrinated students by means of Nazi ideology. If he was indoctrinating, surely intention was Heideggerian style of thinking, not Nazi ideology. But in this presentation I am not considering Heidegger's role as academic indoctrinator. I like to analyze how Heidegger sees the function of academic teaching in his answer to the De-Nazification Committee in July 23 1945. Heidegger was accused of "Gleichschaltung" (place the university in the service of NSADP) during his short period of rectorate at the University of Freiburg and as university teacher of indoctrinating students with Nazi propaganda. This Heidegger's apologia was recently published in anthology "Heidegger, Education, and Modernity" edited by Michael Peters. This historical document reveals valuable information about Heidegger's educational principles. Whether or not he lived by those principles is another question but in that apologia we could find if not "a Heideggerian theory of indoctrination" at least important contribution to the theory of indoctrination in the context of university. Heidegger solemnly declares "To the post war Germany university, I bequeath the principal task that I set myself many years ago and that has exercised me ceaselessly ever since to one degree or another. It is the task of understanding in ever more radical ways the notion of intentionality... The function of the university... is to assume and to remain faithful to just such a role, the university finds itself under a categorical imperative to advance the understanding of intentionality before all other service to society, whether in the interest church, state, or civil society" (Heidegger on the Art of Teaching, p. 30). In this presentation I want analyze Heidegger actually means by "the function of university" and what is its significance for the theory of indoctrination.
Search the ECER Programme
- Search for keywords and phrases in "Text Search"
- Restrict in which part of the abstracts to search in "Where to search"
- Search for authors and in the respective field.
- For planning your conference attendance you may want to use the conference app, which will be issued some weeks before the conference
- If you are a session chair, best look up your chairing duties in the conference system (Conftool) or the app.