Martin Heidegger was one of the twentieth century’s most distinguished philosophers, crucial in defining the cultural and philosophical position inhabited by Western civilisation, whose influence has spread far throughout many academic fields. His 1927 book Being and Time, his first major publication, broke the trend of Western philosophy which had dominated thinking since Descartes. It set the tone of the radically new patterns of thought in an era ‘grounded’ in technology in society, and the …showed first 75 words of 3673 total…

…showed last 75 words of 3673 total…existence proves to be the centre of Europe itself." (Heidegger in his rectoral address from Sluga, p. 27) Was it not true however that the destiny of Europe and the earth was really being decided by guns and military strategy? The Nazis’ apparent authentic relationship to technicity did not help them win a war - a fact which epitomises Heidegger’s misunderstandings and why his relationship to Nazism, on a philosophical level, was a mistaken one.