Oskar Becker - Nazism and Neglect

Nazism and Neglect

It is possible that regard for Becker's earlier work suffered from his later Nazi allegiances, leading to lack of reference or published commentary by émigré logicians and mathematicians who had fled Hitlerism. His lecture on "The Vacuity of Art and the Daring of the Artist," presents a "Nordic Metaphysics" in fairly standard Nazi style.

Two able philosophers who were students of Becker, Juergen Habermas and Hans Sluga, later grappled with the issue of the influence of Nazism on German academia. The application of Heidegger's ideas to theoretical science (let alone mathematics) has only recently become widespread, particularly in the English-speaking world. Furthermore Becker's polemical replies probably alienated his critics still further.

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Famous quotes containing the word neglect:

    For this invention of yours will produce forgetfulness in the minds of those who learn it, by causing them to neglect their memory, inasmuch as, from their confidence in writing, they will recollect by the external aid of foreign symbols, and not by the internal use of their own faculties. Your discovery, therefore, is a medicine not for memory, but for recollection,—for recalling to, not for keeping in mind.
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