The Problem of the Formation of “Historical-Spiritual” Identity Beginning with Heidegger’s Black Notebooks
by Fabio Tesorone-Lebro
Discussion of National Socialism and anti-Semitism was revived after the publication of the Black Notebooks in 2014, and it went well beyond ethical-political debate about Heidegger’s biography and work. In my opinion, one of the most fruitful positions for tracing the relevance of the issues raised in the Black Notebooks is found in the works of J.-L. Nancy and P. Lacoue-Labarthe, who have worked since the 1980s to renew a deep historical-philosophical analysis on the origins, causes, and revival of anti-Semitism and nationalism in Western society. The “historial” and “spiritual” source method is then used to think about the nature of Heidegger’s archi-nationalist thought. Heidegger’s thought would appear to us as an archaeo-teleological thought and an “autoimmune” people’s, and a national mythopoiesis. This paper argues that the “self-foundation of nationalist identity” is not solely based on a racist biologism, but also on a deep theoretical-metaphysical sublimation of nostalgic and originary drives, as evidenced by these authors’ theses in the context of the Black Note-books. From this perspective, it is possible to understand neo-nationalism phenomena that expressly refer to Heideggerian work in order to legitimize the transition from an Old Right based on racial violence to a New Right based on ethnocentrism and nationalist mythopoiesis.
Keywords: Heidegger, Historial, Spiritual, Identity, Anti-Semitism
Tesorone