World War II and Phenomenology and Women Philosophers

 This seems like it is getting to be a blog about what I listen to while on my daily walk, but really, it isn't intended to be so.  That is, however, one of the reasons I switched to this venue rather than continuing my old homeschooling journal.

This morning I listened to a 2-part series on Dietrich Bonhoeffer by Cross Examined.   (scroll down to find the two podcasts -- interviews with Eric Metaxas on his biography of Bonhoeffer).  Why I am listening to discussion on Bonhoeffer?  Because I am going to be discussing him in a chatroom book study on his Letters and Papers from Prison.

This summer's focus has almost turned into a WWII/philosophy unit study.  There is Bonhoeffer, who was a somewhat-philosopher as well as theologian and pastor.

Then I am reading and listening to things about Heidegger, who was a colleague and former assistant of Husserl.  Husserl I had gotten interested enough in years ago to buy a book of his, after Liam and I discussed him,  which I never read, though I did read the TAC spiral-bound copy of one of his papers.     The reason I am reading around Heidegger is in order to approach his Being and Time, which I am going to try to read to follow this Great Conversation group.  Being and Time is a notoriously difficult book, so I don't expect to become a Heidegger scholar.   Learning from getting floor-wiped with Plotinus, I am doing the secondary-easing-into-primary-source approach with Heidegger.

Both of them, Husserl and Heidegger, were philosophers in the phenomenological tradition, though their ideas differed on several points.   One interesting thing about phenomenology and that particular time in the history of philosophy is that several eminent women philosophers were educated and formed during that time.

Edith Stein, who was canonized recently, was a student of Husserl's.   Hannah Arendt was a student of Heidegger's.   Elizabeth Anscombe, the British Catholic philosopher who legendarily (but not quite historically) took down CS Lewis, was a student of Wittgenstein, another phenomenologist.    Edith Stein was a named influence in Pope John Paul II's encyclical on the Dignity of Women, and Anscombe wrote one of the more thorough defenses of the Church's position on contraception.    There is some debate over to what extent John Paul II was a phenomenologist in his philosophy and to what extent he was a Thomist.   It seems to me that when I read Witness to Hope that his university influences were more phenomenological, but that was a few years ago.

Is there something about the middle 20th century and women as philosophers?    A question for another time.

Husserl, Edith Stein, and Hannah Arendt were Jews; Husserl converted to Lutheranism and Stein to Catholicism.   Heidegger, not a Jew,  apparently briefly flirted with Nazism. Bonhoeffer, by contrast, was an early outspoken critic of the National Socialist party in Germany.

Is there also something about the middle 2oth century and conversion?  Jacques and Raissa Maritain were also converts, and Raissa was a Jew.   This is also a question for another time.

I have Eric Metaxas's biography of Bonhoeffer on request from ILL.   I just finished reading Edith Stein:  Essential Writings.    After reading that, I got two Edith Stein books, one of her collected essays on Woman and one called The Transposition Of Edith Stein: Her Contributions to Philosophy, Feminism and The Theology of the Body.

(whew, I do like those heavy-weight titles!  it's not just academic book titles that pack such a punch, either; the lightest pop psychology or topical journalism book will often have a title practically equaling the total wordage of a given Marvel comic issue).

I should start giving my blog posts titles like that.   It reminds me irresistibly of some Victorian novels.

Anyway, you can see in how many directions a pile of books like that can lead you; and what I love, finding connections across books that at first don't seem related.  It is such a thrill, better than a sugar rush.

I also found a book at the library called Stranger from Abroad: Hannah Arendt, Martin Heidegger, Friendship and Forgiveness.   The historical/biographical books are somewhat easier going than the straight philosophical ones, but I find it harder to motivate myself to read them.    However, I pick them up when I am getting bogged down in the philosophy; or, sometimes, I go for a walk and listen to a podcast, because they are usually dumbed down easier going.

I promised Aidan, who is now 14! that I would make a cake with him today, and he is urging me onwards, so I will close this now.   Sundays are nice peaceful days.     I hope to get some progress made on plans for the school year and also continue my excursion into phenomenology and 20th century history.