Is there a necessary connection between a philosopher's politics Essay

Is there a necessary connection between a philosopher's politics and their philosophy - Essay Example It should be noted that Heidegger was forced into the sidelines within only months of joining the party and despite the claims that his philosophy is compatible to Nazism, it actually went in the opposite direction. Heidegger’s philosophy was based on an attempt to understand Being, and to address it as a problem that philosophers throughout history had failed to address. He believed that an understanding of being was necessary to ensure that human beings were not only able to understand themselves, but the world around them as well.2 This is in complete contrast with Hitler’s and Nazi policies, which often concentrated on the promotion of the Aryan race as well as the development of social programs designed to destroy rather than to develop and understand. When compared to Heidegger’s philosophy, which advocated for the universality of the human race, the basis of the social programs promoted by the Nazi regime was to ensure that racial purity for the Aryan race was maintained at all costs. This is because it was believed that the German nation had become weak and would not be able to continue retaining its superior status if undesirable individuals were allowed to survive .3 One of the cruellest of these social policies was that of the forced sterilization of those individuals who were believed to be from lesser races and who carried any form of genetic weakness. In order to make this policy effective, laws were put in place to ensure that doctors provided all the information concerning their patients to the state so that the latter could be able to determine those individuals who had the desirable characteristics to ensure the creation of the German master race. A process where individuals could report others who they suspected of being genetically weak was made possible and this ensured that the Nazi government was able to get to as many people