Abstract

Martin Heidegger, an influential twentieth-century philosopher, attempted to transcend previous metaphysical understandings. Rejecting his Catholic heritage, his ontology sought to free itself from any objective ethical standard Nonetheless, he was unable to reject ethical matters entirely. Before Hitler's rise to power, Heidegger championed authenticity as a quasi-ethical concept. Later, he condemned technology as the source of human suffering. Neither led him to condemn the Holocaust explicitly. Such a condemnation was warranted in light of Heidegger's enthusiastic early support of National Socialism and his silence at its collapse. Ultimately, Heidegger's silence reflected the unacceptably high price of amoral thought intent upon celebrating only itself Heidegger's conception of the human being in a world where transcendental standards do not exist reveals the spirit of postmodern man, rooted in nothing larger than himself.