Heidegger's Influence In the 20th C

The Iranian presidential election of 2009 and its tumultuous aftermath was an important starting point for a new wave of visual artists and their artwork in Iran and the rest of the MENA countries. During these democratic movements, the role of visual artists and their artwork drew a great deal of attention for those interested in the study of resistance art and political unrest. Stemming from fundamental political ideas ― freedom, liberty of speech, equality ― artists/activists used a variety of visual elements to illustrate their deep sense of national identity. This collection is one of the first attempts to show how, during the Iran post-election crisis of 2009, resistance artists expressed the messages of the nation in their artwork.

One serious defect of the polemical writings that charge Heidegger with Nazism is that they mostly represent a poor knowledge of his thought. Heidegger’s writings are painfully difficult, even to specialists, and his concepts can be easily misinterpreted,especially by those who, instead of searching for truth, embrace a prosecutor’s zeal. My objective is not to blame or to exonerate Heidegger before investigating the relationship between his philosophy and politics in depth. Obviously, given the limited nature of my presentation, I cannot consider Heidegger’s entire philosophical opus. I intend to concentrate chiefly on his critique of the Western
metaphysical tradition and on an interpretation of his most controversial statement from An Introduction to Metaphysics about the “inner truth and greatness” of National Socialism. I will begin my investigation by considering a notorious episode in Heidegger’s life, namely his service as Rector of the University of Freiburg from April 1933 to February 1934. Then I move to the essence of his philosophy, the quest for the meaning of Being, deduce a political theory from his ontology, and arrive at his politics. This way I attempt to throw some new light on the Heidegger controversy and to disclose his hidden path.

In the face of the popular crusade to link new religious movements to dangerous cults, brainwashing, and the need for deprogramming, Irving Hexham and Karla Poewe argue that many cults are in fact the product of dynamic interaction between folk religions and the teachings of traditional world religions. With the widespread loss of belief in biblical mythology in the nineteenth century, new mythologies based on science and elements derived from various non-Western religious traditions emerged, leading to the growth and popularity of new religions and cults. Drawing on examples from Africa, the United States, Asia, and Europe, the authors suggest that few new religions are really original. Most draw on rich, if localized, cultural traditions, which are then shaped anew by the influence of technological change and international linkages.