74 Chapter 3
As University Paris Quest-Nanterre La Défense professor Emmanuel Fayepara-
phrasesHeidegger’s bookBeingand Time, “authenticexistencehas nothingof an individ-
ual beingaboutit. It can be accomplishedonlyas a commondestiny(Geschick) in ‘the
historicizing of the community, of the people’ (das Geschehen der Gemeinschaft, des
Volkes).... the ideasthatare at the veryfoundationof NationalSocialistdoctrines
are...thoseof a communityof destiny[Schicksalsgemeinschaft] andof a communityof the
people[Volksgemeinschaft]... The destructionof the individualand the humanIin orderto
makeroomfor the communaldestinyof the peopleis... a ‘politicalproject’ embeddedin
the veryfoundationsof NationalSocialism,withitsVolksgemeinschaftdoctrine.” Unsur-
prisingly,Heideggerandhis fellowNazieugenicists,suchas HansF. K. Günther,took
Platoas theirmodel,emulatingPlato’s anti-reasonepistemologyand,quiteappropriately,
his governistpoliticsas well.^158
Professionalscientistsservingunderthe ThirdReich,also,had explicateda decidedly
unscientific,romanticistview.Let us revisitthe wordsof NobelPrize-winningphysicist
and earlyNSDAPsupporterPhilipLenard,whomwe quotedin BookOne.Lenard,who
joinedthe NSDAPin 1924andstuckwithit to the end,complainedthatin his ownera,
“the successesof technologyhaveproduceda specialformof arrogantdelusion.... The
actualizationof practicalpossibilitiesopenedup by a greatercomprehensionof nature
gaverise to the notionof the ‘mastery’ of nature.‘Manhas slowlybecomethe masterof
nature.’ Suchutteranceson the partof the spirituallyimpoverished‘grandtechnicians’
acquireda greatinfluencebecauseof the impressivedisplaytheirnewtechniquesand
inventionsmadepossible.Andthatinfluencehas beenevenstrengthenedby the all-
corruptingforeignspirit”—he meanssecularJewishscientists—“permeatingphysicsand
mathematics.”^159
Alsoconsiderthe espousalsof BrunoThüring,an astronomerand professionalmathe-
maticianin the HeidelbergAssociationof Studentsin Science.Thüringsays,“The feeling”
for the untamedwilderness“possessedby Nordicman,whostrivesto comprehendna-
ture... withhis heart... , are hereopposedby a conceptof naturewhichaimsto set up
the intellectaloneas the cognitiveprinciplein the investigationof natureandwhich
consequentlydisregardsthe possibilityof conceptionsgearedto our spirit.. .”^160
Understandingthe thrustof the philosophiesadoptedby Lenardand Thüring,scholar
ReneDenfieldremarksthatNazibeliefwas“groundedin wishfulthinking,anddismis-
sive of objectivescience.”^161
As Universityof WisconsinhistorianGeorgeL. Mossesummarizes,Naziismwas char-
acterizedby a “fascistappealto irrationality.. .”^162 In conclusion,“Obviouslythereis a
connectionbetweenHitler’s readingand the NewRomanticideology.... Whata contrast
that supposedJewishmaterialismformedwithsucha worldview!”^163
Thenow-discreditedaccusationthatNaziismnaturallysprungfromthe Enlighten-
mentbeganwithTheodorAdornoand MaxHorkheimerof the Frankfurtschoolof Marx-
ian thought.“Of course,” saysSmithsonianInstitutionhistorianArthurHerman(b. 1956),
“one couldpointout thatthe Enlightenment’s supposedfinalproduct,NaziGermany,
was actuallythe self-declaredenemyof Enlightenmentliberalismand all its works,just as
it championed” romanticist“Kultur” (culture)overrational“Zivilisation.” Yet Adornoand
Horkheimerarbitrarilyrejectedsuchconsiderations.^164
Naziismwasa rebellionagainstthe generalcategoryof Enlightenmentthinkers,a
groupwhichimplicitlyincludesSpencerandSumner.Thatdoesnot deterRichardHof-
stadterfromissuinghis mischaracterization.He goeson to arguethatif Spencerand
Sumnerpersonallyopposedcolonialism,the free-markettheoriestheyespousedwill—
whentakento theirlogicalconclusion—stillultimatelyinstillimperialambitionsinto
theirreaders.SDATprovidesshabbyevidencefor suchan implication.AmericanThought
purportsthatit washis enthusiasmfor Spencer’s evolutionismthatmotivateda certain