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Martin Heidegger, Emmanuel Levinas, and the Politics of Dwelling

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Martin Heidegger, Emmanuel Levinas, and the Politics of Dwelling Louisiana State University LSU Digital Commons LSU Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School 2004 Martin Heidegger, Emmanuel Levinas, and the politics of dwelling David James Gauthier Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations Part of the Political Science Commons Recommended Citation Gauthier, David James, "Martin Heidegger, Emmanuel Levinas, and the politics of dwelling" (2004). LSU Doctoral Dissertations. 191. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations/191 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at LSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in LSU Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized graduate school editor of LSU Digital Commons. For more information, please [email protected]. MARTIN HEIDEGGER, EMMANUEL LEVINAS, AND THE POLITICS OF DWELLING A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Louisiana State University and Agriculture and Mechanical College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in The Department of Political Science by David J. Gauthier B.A., University of Texas at Austin, 1995 M.A., Baylor University, 1997 December 2004 Acknowledgements Since a dissertation is a collaborative endeavor, it would be ungrateful of me indeed to ignore the contributions of the various individuals who helped to make the present study a reality. Of the members of my committee, Dr. Cecil L. Eubanks deserves the most thanks. Besides helping me to conceptualize the subject matter of the dissertation, Professor Eubanks provided me with much-needed guidance during the writing process. Dr. Eubanks has been a model mentor, and I cannot hope to repay him for the various forms of assistance that he has provided to me over the course of my graduate career. I am also grateful to Professors G. Ellis Sandoz and James R. Stoner, Jr, both of whom are responsible for much of my training in political theory. Thanks are also due to Dr. Gregory J. Schufreider for introducing me to the thought of Martin Heidegger. Although I am first and foremost a political theorist, Professor Mark J. Gasiorowski broadened my intellectual horizons by introducing me to the study of comparative politics. I also would like to thank several other professors who have enriched my academic career. My interest in political theory was originally sparked by Professor Marianne Mahoney at the University of Texas at Austin. At Baylor University, Dr. Dwight D. Allman took my education one step further by instructing me in the history of political thought. I am also indebted to Dr. Michael D. Beaty and Dr. John Blakeman, both of whom provided me with assistance that helped me to make the transition from Baylor to Louisiana State University. This dissertation also benefitted from many excellent discussions with my colleagues at LSU, including (but not limited to) Alan Baily, John Baltes, David and Elizabeth Corey, ii Edward F. Findlay, Jeremy Mhire, Glenn A. Moots, and James D. Stewart. Dr. Robert Hogan and Mark E. Martin of Hill Memorial Library provided me with employment opportunities when I needed them most. I also would like to acknowledge the contribution of Tara C. Montelaro, the graduate secretary of the political science department who has been a constant source of assistance. But most of all, I am indebted to my family and friends. The love of my parents, Daniel and Eleanor Gauthier, and my sister, Lisa, has helped me to endure through this angst-ridden time. I am also thankful for the friendship of Brian McIntosh, Scott Segrest, and Colin Woodward, all of whom have enriched my life in innumerable ways. Blessed with such family and friends, I am a true beneficiary of what Heidegger called the “healing and conserving powers of home.” iii Table of Contents ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .................................................. ii ABSTRACT.............................................................. vi CHAPTER 1. HEIDEGGER, LEVINAS, AND THE PROBLEM OF THE HOMELESS SPIRIT . 1 I. Introduction .......................................................1 II. Hegel’s Discussion of the Homeless Spirit ..............................5 III. Heidegger and Levinas ............................................12 IV. Literature Review................................................21 V. Conclusion......................................................28 2. PRIMORDIAL HOMELESSNESS: THE POLITICS OF ANXIETY IN HEIDEGGER’S BEING AND TIME .....................................33 I. Introduction ......................................................33 II. Being-in-the-World and Being-With..................................38 III. Everydayness and Publicness .......................................43 IV. Heidegger’s Analysis of Anxiety....................................53 V. Flight and Resoluteness............................................59 VI. Heidegger’s Discussion of the Volk ..................................63 VII. Conclusion.....................................................68 3. FINDING A HOME IN THE GERMAN POLIS: HEIDEGGER AND THE POLITICS OF AESTHETIC NATIONALISM ............................74 I. Introduction ......................................................74 II. The Spiritual Crisis of the West......................................78 III. The Destiny of the German Nation Revealed ...........................86 IV. Heidegger’s Concept of the Work of Art..............................92 V. The Founding of the Polis ..........................................97 VI. Conclusion ....................................................105 4. HOMECOMING IN A POST-TECHNOLOGICAL AGE: BUILDING, DWELLING, AND THINKING IN THE FOURFOLD .....................111 I. Introduction .....................................................111 II. The Plight of Modern Homelessness.................................116 III. Heidegger’s Critique of Modern Technology ..........................121 IV. Building, Dwelling, and Thinking in the Fourfold ......................128 V. The Question of Ethics............................................139 VI. Conclusion ....................................................144 iv 5. THE VIOLENCE OF HOMECOMING: LEVINAS’S CRITIQUE OF HEIDEGGER......................................................153 I. Introduction .....................................................153 II. The Violence of Heideggerian Ontology..............................156 III. Heidegger and Anti-Humanism ....................................166 IV. Heidegger and the Pagan Temptation................................174 V. Conclusion.....................................................183 6. DWELLING IN THE FACE OF THE OTHER: LEVINAS AND THE POLITICS OF HOSPITALITY.................................................189 I. Introduction .....................................................189 II. Levinas’s Concept of the Home.....................................192 III. The Third and the Possibility of Human Fraternity .....................201 IV. From the State of Caesar to the Messianic State .......................208 V. Conclusion.....................................................220 7. CONCLUSION: TOWARDS A POSTMODERN POLITICS OF PLACE......230 I. Introduction .....................................................230 II. Heidegger, Levinas, and the Problem of the Homeless Spirit..............232 III. The Politics of Heideggerian Homecoming and Levinasian Hospitality .....238 IV. Heidegger and Levinas: Misgivings ................................249 V. Conclusion.....................................................256 BIBLIOGRAPHY ........................................................265 VITA ..................................................................277 v Abstract The late modern and postmodern theme of homecoming permeates the philosophy of Martin Heidegger, who grapples with the topic throughout the various phases of his lifelong meditation on Being. Heidegger continually gave thought to the relationship between Being and the place or site in which it becomes manifest, whether it is a system of references and manipulable entities (Being and Time), language (An Introduction to Metaphysics), or aesthetic works of art (“The Origin of the Work of Art”). Taking as its point of departure Heidegger’s persistent and dynamic search for home (Heimat), this study will examine the political implications of his philosophical sojourn with an eye on the nationalistic tendencies that were exhibited by Heidegger’s rectorship at the University of Freiburg. Moreover, the study will consider the German philosopher’s attempted philosophical homecoming from the perspective of Emmanuel Levinas’s pointed critique of Heidegger’s place-bound view of human existence. Taking aim at the ontological, anti-humanistic, and pagan elements of Heidegger’s thought, Levinas posits an alternative that is ethical in emphasis, humanistic in thrust, and transcendent in scope. Supplementing and correcting Heidegger’s homecoming ethos with a philosophy that stresses hospitality (l’hospitalité) towards the Other (autrui), Levinas suggests that our ethical responsibility for the stranger, widow, and orphan supercedes our attachment to place. By facilitating a rapprochement between Heideggerian dwelling and Levinasian nomadism, this study will make visible a postmodern relation to home that does not succumb to narrow national particularism nor to rootless, global cosmopolitanism. vi Chapter
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