Le Monde en Dimanche, revisited
The thing that got me started on the whole journalism thing below is this: I read an article in Sunday's Le Monde about a recently discovered letter from Thomas Mann (author of Magic Mtn. and Dr. Faustus, etc.) to Columbia theologian Paul Tillich. The letter constitutes the only recorded statement by Thomas Mann on Martin Heidegger, his countryman, fellow intellectual, and (unlike Mann) a Nazi. Mann argues that in Heidegger's philosophy one finds a doctrine of reason and progress, and that in the criticsim of Enlightenment ideas we can raise their flag over new terrain, an argument that the journalist links to Nietzsche's Human, All Too Human. But the extreme rationalism of fascism should not be taken as an argument for the absurdity of progress, but as a new opportunity.
The guy is reporting the discovery of this letter and commenting on the position it reveals. The closest thing to this kind of discussion you could find in the NYT is if some sensationalist new interpretation of Shakespeare's identity kicked up a lot of dust. This particular piece hardly departs from the "news" of an academic firestorm, but rather from the issue of the idea itself.
Posted by amol at June 25, 2002 12:59 PM