America (n.) is less a geographical place than a temporal situation. It is a moment in history, the spatial manifestation of the temporal fact of the…

Martin Heidegger on America

America

common sense

dad joke

coin

Jesus Christ

patriotism

4th of July

piss

freedom

pick-up line

North Korea

culture

oxymoron

gun violence

antivaxxer

Groundhog Day

foreign language

illegal immigration

xenophobia

Britain

cooking

reality TV

American

election

politics

voting

progress

technological progress

China

infrastructure

theft

shoplifting

baby food

2nd Amendment

adolescent

beer

Germany

gun ownership

gun rights

Black Friday

Canada

Batman

substitute teaching

competitiveness

Corona Virus

vaccination

Christianity

health insurance

Halloween

Native American

occupation (military)

America is a silly mass-hysterical fantasy.

The reality of America is mass-market stupidity. Bill Buford

I must face the fact, as all others in positions of leadership must do, that America today is an extremely sick nation, and that something could well happen to me at any time. I feel, though, that my cause is so right, so moral, that if I should lose my life, in some way it would aid the cause.

prison

trivia

pizza

is less a geographical place than a temporal situation. It is a moment in history, the spatial manifestation of the temporal fact of the 'darkening of the world' and the 'forgetting of being' that is the basic feature of the modern age.

Heidegger's thought America was less a geographical place than a temporal situation: America was a moment in history... the spatial manifestation of the temporal fact of the 'darkening of the world' and the 'forgetting of Being' that was the basic feature of the modern age..

is representative of the ahistorical, the inability to situate oneself meaningfully in time. He is homeless, uprooted, nothing exists to be transmitted or handed down to later generations, he living in a perpetual present, and, paradoxically, the only permanent condition is the continual quest for the always new of permanent change.

Here we arrive at the final feature of Americanism.America also symbolizes the ahistorical, the inability to situate oneself meaningfullyin time. The relation of ahistorical man to time parallels that of the consumer to things. Both relationships share homelessness as a metaphor. To be homeless is to be uprooted,lacking a place, either in a physical accommodation or inside a genuine tradition. Theabsence of a sense of history leads to an attitude in which nothing is seen as permanent,and nothing exist to be transmitted or handed down to later generations. Those trappedin this position live in a perpetual present, and, paradoxically, the only permanent conditionis the continual quest for the 'always new of permanent change.' This problematicis even more damaging to the collective than it is to the individual. Since a sharedhistory is what makes a group of persons into a larger whole, the absence of such a historymeans that there can be no Volk.

is the example par excellence of a collectivity of persons that is nor a true people/nation. It is an ahistorical attitude that is waging war on the historical sense of europe.

America is the example par excellence of a collectivity of persons that is nor a true people/nation. Writing at the rime of America's entryinto World War II, Heidegger, made this explicit. The United States, spiritually representingthe ahistorical attitude, was waging war on the historical sense (apparently bestrepresented by Nazi Germany), and thereby following a path to self-destruction. Americawas now the enemy of Germany, and by implication also of Europe and of all valuablethings in the West (Ceaser 1997: 197-200... 274-276). Although this may suggest astrict dichotomy between Americanism and Europeanism, Heidegger actually viewedAmericanism also as something European, representing a working out of modern Europeanthought that was the culmination of the entire Western metaphysical tradition.

is the site where developments in philosophy, the humanities, and social sciences have moved furthest towards specialization. This segmentation (or fragmentation) of knowledge into different specialties reflects the governing thought that knowledge is meant to master reality and to make objects calculable.

Third, in Heidegger's view, America is the site where developments in philosophy,the humanities, and social sciences have moved furthest towards specialization. This segmentation(or fragmentation) of knowledge into different specialties reflects the governingthought that knowledge is meant to master reality and to make objects calculable.Each discipline is assigned its own domain and objects to study and discover how to use or control these. Man himself is approached as such an object, not only in biology butalso in psychology and economics. Modern psychology will soon enable Americans toestablish what man is and how he can most efficiently be brought into a position of mosteffective use. Heidegger calls such understanding of man 'pseudo-philosophy' (Scheinphilosophie),which already came to dominate American universities and was increasinglybeing emulated by German science. Like consumerism, however, American science is adeformation, leading us away from genuine thought and toward the situation of 'homelessness.'

is a term indicating the more general deformation of all the advanced modern languages, which entails a transformation from a medium with a poetic function able to capture the particular and the distinctive into a bland vehicle for technical communication, whatever the language one is supposedly using.

American' (or sometimes 'English-American') is the term Heidegger uses, in a metaphorical sense, to indicate the more general deformation of allthe advanced modern languages, which entails a transformation from a medium with apoetic function able to capture the particular and the distinctive into a bland vehicle fortechnical communication, whatever the language one is supposedly using. Even choughwe may think we speak our native tongue, we actually talk 'American.' This is a true disasterfrom Heidegger's perspective, because for this philosopher language is the 'houseof Being,' the means by 'which people grasp their life-world. Therefore this deformationof language auromarically implies a deformation of thought. To be able to practicereflective thinking, one must be able to use language poetically, in such a way that it isgrounded in the particular. This is impossible in America, vhich stands for the triumphof the uniform over the particular.

Definitions HQ