HEIDEGGER'S "LETTER ON HUMANISM"

If you find yourself in need of something to attend to during any period of COVID-19 isolation, reading Heidegger’s “Letter on Humanism” is not at all a terrible way to pass the time. As a note, it is a bit circular, and halfway through I was compelled to take a 2-hour nap. Naps also being an excellent way to pass the time during periods of social-distancing. Still, even with circularity, this work differs from his other writing in terms of style - it is more poetic, and the manner in which he addresses and distinguishes Being and Time from Sartre’s “existentialism” was for me enjoyable to read and clarified Being and Time even further so in my mind. Rather than provide a lengthy summary, I will disclose the passages which most resonated with me.

Given my experience and continued observations of globalization, tourism, self-exile, and both involuntary and voluntary forms of displacement, Heidegger’s assertion that “homelessness is coming to be the destiny of the world…the estrangement of the human being has its roots in the homelessness of modern human beings,” I found compelling. Modernity has created a circumstance of human beings in which humanism - if that is, in fact, an appropriate word to use - is in exile; beings are lost in the world and fail to be in alignment with the truths of human existence. That is, humans are disconnected from the most unique part of being human, which is human thought as connected to being. Heidegger reinforces throughout this letter that human thought is being, and that thinking is not at all a separate logical pursuit to behold on its own, to be used only for the advancement of the sciences. The departure from thinking as being and the consideration of thinking as something outside of being has created this circumstance of homelessness for humans in modernity.

Secondarily, I appreciated Heidegger’s approach to defining materialism, writing that it “does not consist in the assertation that everything is simply matter but rather in a metaphysical determination according to which every being appears as the material of labor. The modern metaphysical essence of labor is anticipated in Hegel’s Phenomenology of Spirit as the self-establishing process of unconditioned production, which is the objectification of the actual through the human being, experienced as subjectivity.” My thoughts on this have not been thoroughly organized, but when I think of materialism, modern advertising platforms and marketing campaigns come to mind, and I am concerned about the way in which these new forms of information delivery continue to shape human thought. Marketing and advertising now possess definitive technological elements, and I would like to continue to contemplate the continuation of the aforementioned quote from Heidegger in order to come to a more comprehensive understanding of what this means for the presence of materialism in the world today: “The essence of materialism is concealed in the essence of technology, about which much has been written but little has been thought. Technology is in its essence a destiny within the history of being and of the truth of being, a truth that lies in oblivion.” Heidegger continues to connect the history of metaphysics and the evolution of technology as a “distinctive” and “surveyable phase of the history of being.” Connecting back to the notion of homelessness for human beings, the “essential homelessness” that humans are experiencing is due to the history of being, and I suppose also from the history of disconnectedness from being and thinking as synonymous components of human beingness. The recent and continued history of human being includes an emphasis on material pursuits and evolving subjectivity through labor and production. The existing disconnect and employment of human thought for logical and scientific ends has led us to a place of inevitable homelessness.

Thirdly, Heidegger writes of Nationalism as ultimately a subjectivism, “not overcome through mere internationalism; it is rather expanded and elevated thereby into a system…It completes subjectivity’s unconditioned self-assertion, which refuses to yield.” Interestingly, and while this is a simplification of his determination, I agree with the notion that internationalism, or the modern referential term of globalization, has not succeeded in the way some think it had the potential to. America currently is an embarrassment, with nationalistic rhetoric prominent in the dialogue of the current administration. Has an increase in globalization ceased the proliferation of national identities or nationalistic rhetoric? Not that I can see evidence of. Even prior to COVID-19, borders were becoming less open, immigration remains unresolved in a large majority of nations, racism and religious persecution continue to vary degrees globally. Globalization has increased trade and tourism, but not in the manner which acknowledges everyone as more equal within human existence and beingness - tourism and the lens of the tourist are still very much subjective in nature, with the tourist observing “the other” and thereby subjecting “the other” to their gaze (see also James Agee). Global trade subjects any number of people to problematic circumstances. Globalization and tourism is an entirely different topic, so to avoid becoming too tangential, I will simply conclude that writing pre-globalization, Heidegger’s notions are thought-provoking for the current system of global sprawl.

I very much liked what Heidegger wrote regarding ethics, although I do believe that is a separate discussion entirely, and one which I need to contemplate more fully to discern which if any part of it I find to be accurate. While somewhat unconnected to his thoughts on ethics, his statement that “The human being is not the lord of beings. The human being is the shepherd of being,” may still be applicable in the determination of moral good and ethical reasoning. It is a nice thought, to envision humanity as keepers, not pillagers. The last piece of “Letter on Humanism” that I would like to share is the following, in which Heidegger writes that “…poetizing is truer than the exploration of beings.” At the conclusion of the letter, he expresses - I believe - that human beingness in thought, or freely thinking through poetry and emotion is likely to get to the truth of beingness in a way that continues to evade the sciences. Science ostracizes the human element of thinking and being, whereas poetry embodies the natural and innate mode of human thought in beingness. And so, to quote Heidegger one final time, “let us also in the days ahead remain as wanderers on the way into the neighborhood of being.” Perhaps poetry may help.