Abstract

My paper opposes Luca Di Blasi’s thesis that Heidegger’s philosophy of being is fundamentally antisemitic. Heidegger’s criticism of the Western history of being is rooted in his criticism of the history of Western metaphysics. He sees the political catastrophes and devastations of the 20th century as consequences of the metaphysical »Machenschaft« of men: Heidegger’s hell. His criticism of the Jews is relevant only insofar as their »gift for calculation« draws them into complicity in such a »Machenschaft«. Heidegger’s metaphysical criticism understands racism too as a form of »Machenschaft«, and so by no means supports such a standpoint, as Di Blasi wrongly supposes.