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Howmanybutts t1_its7t97 wrote

Reply to comment by bordain_de_putel in The philosophy of Martin Heidegger who argued that the Technological mindset has destroyed our relationship to the world so that Nature is seen as so many resources to exploit. He presents an alternative: a poetic relationship to the world by thelivingphilosophy

The complicated part is that he did foundational and important work in the field of ontology and other areas of Philosophy, while being a morally viscous person. No one here is arguing his moral and political choices are complicated, they are simply and directly abhorrent - and we should acknowledge them as such.

Lets say a mathematician is a horrible person, a nazi even in this case. Yet they make a discovery of an equation that is highly valuable and even ground braking. The acknowledgment of the significance of the math they discovered shouldn't be thrown away because of their horrific moral and personal life. The two can be divorced as long as their moral character is remembered. The discovery in itself can be celebrated and praised for its own use, while simultaneously condemning the person who discovered it. The same here is being said of Heidegger.

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TunaFree_DolphinMeat t1_ituar4f wrote

Yeah, I agree with this sentiment in general. If a person is morally repugnant or bankrupt that should be remembered. But their contributions to society aren't diminished because of that. You can absolutely cherry pick the good parts of a bad person's work.

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