Philosophy and National Socialism

In one of the memorable places in Zarathustra, Nietzsche asks the question: what is the greatest weight that the spirit must carry? One answer is, "to dive into dirty water if it is the water of truth, and not to reject either cold frogs or hot toads." The Nietzschean citation could also be the motto of research on the relationship between philosophy and National Socialism: we must examine the ideas and hidden connections that are very unattractive to us, precisely because of their connection with National Socialism. We can - make the relationship of some philosophers with Nazism the subject of philosophical analysis, or we can explain or analyze the philosophical critique of Nazism if we are not afraid to get close to our subject, if we want to not only remove and stigmatize "infected" thoughts, we want to make these difficult connections the subject of a real philosophical study. We need the courage to think, to present these thoughts in their own strength for the purpose of analysis, even if we know what tragic consequences they had. In addition to examining the life paths and philosophical motivations of thinkers who came into contact with Nazism, another important goal of the volume is to present possible philosophical critiques of Nazism and to reconstruct philosophical critiques that specifically target the work of philosophers who came into contact with Nazism. Most studies attempt to map and analyze the relationship between Carl Schmitt and Martin Heidegger and National Socialism, but several studies address the relationship between phenomenology and politics, and more conservative critiques of National Socialism are analyzed in more writing.