Hitler and Christianity » mankind

Immanuel Kant – militarist, racist, proto-fascist and anti-Semite

Joseph Keysor — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 15:00:11 +0000

Discussions of Kant usually focus on his main philosophical ideas – empiricism, rationalism, ethics, epistemology and whatnot. These ideas place him in the front rank of modern Western philosophers (though far below the ancients, in my opinion). If we look at Kant from a different angle, however, another picture emerges.

Concerning his militarism, people who run across such statements of Kant as the following will assume he was opposed to war, a reasonable man, the epitome of the finest tendencies of rationalism: “the barbarous expedient of war”; “reason, as the highest legislative moral power, absolutely condemns war as a test of rights and sets up peace as an immediate duty”; “war, the source of all evils and moral corruption,” and so on.[1]

It is necessary, though, to read the fine print. In so doing, we learn that war promotes “that close association of social classes within the commonwealth which promotes the well-being of all” [102]. War stimulates social cohesion which helps towards a greater degree of freedom [102]. Thus, “so long as human culture remains at its present stage, war is therefore an indispensable means of advancing it further” [102-03]. Peace will only be possible “when culture has reached its full development – and only God knows when that will be” [103].

So, war is bad, and someday we will progress beyond it, but for the present it is necessary and even beneficial. This explains Kant’s sympathy for the French revolution. True, much blood was shed in wars and massacres, but that was necessary for the progress of mankind. This idea of war as necessary and beneficial, as “natural” and part of nature’s plan was to become over the next fifty years and more one of the cornerstones of German militarism.

Kant was also a racist, and in his Physical Geography expressed his philosophical belief in the superiority of the white race. [2] Moreover, he presented a concept that was later to become an important justification of totalitarianism – the idea that there was more real democracy and representation of the will of the people in the rule of an enlightened despot like Frederick the Great, than there was under a parliamentary system like that of Great Britain, which (in Kant’s view) was only a swindle [81-82].

Thus, Kant could enthusiastically explain that “our age is the age of enlightenment, the century of Frederick” [9]. The Poles were less enthusiastic about Prussian warlords furthering the progress of humanity with their enlightened wars and conquests. By “uniting the collective will of the people in his own” [8], the monarch derives real authority. The people don’t need democracy because their ruler represents them faithfully.

Significantly, Kant thought progress would come “from the top downwards” [84]. The state and its enlightened leadership would guide the common people on mankind’s upward progressive path. This would require a comprehensive system of national education “designed on the considered plan and intention of the highest authority in the state” [84-85].

Concerning Kant’s anti-Semitism, there is a very interesting book called German Idealism and the Jew: The Inner Anti-Semitism of Philosophy and German Jewish Responses by Prof. Michael Mack. This book shows, convincingly I believe, how Kant helped to introduce a new kind of anti-Semitism into German Kultur. Kant was not concerned about the Jews being under God’s wrath for the crucifixion of Christ. He had no interest in such unreasonable ideas. He objected to Jews because their rigid adherence to unchanging divine laws alienated them from the progress of humanity, and isolated them from natural human feelings.

Kant also missed clear references in the Old Testament to the afterlife (Daniel 12:2-3; Psalm 23:6; Psalm 16:11; Isaiah 65: 17-18). Out of this misunderstanding, he reasoned that Jews were only materialists, interested in serving God just for the sake of material gain and earthly benefits (Genesis 28:20-21). These misguided ideas became standard themes of more radical anti-Semites who, later in the 19th century, added yet other ideas (including racial purity and hostility to Jewish-inspired Christianity) to portray Jews as an unhealthy and even dangerous cultural influence. The following quote from Mein Kampf reflects Kant’s enlightenment anti-Semitism (expressed of course by many others as well):

Due to his own original special nature, the Jew cannot possess a religious institution, if for no other reason because he lacks idealism in any form, and hence belief in a hereafter is absolutely foreign to him . . . Indeed, the Talmud is not a book to prepare a man for the hereafter, but only for a practical and profitable life in this world (Vol. I Chapter 11, “Nation and Race”).[3]

Kant is an excellent example of the truth of that saying of Christ’s, “That which is highly esteemed with men is an abomination with God.” In the eyes of men, Kant was a brilliant philosopher, but from the biblical point of view his philosophy is folly, delusion, and a complete waste of time. If I were stranded on a desert island with nothing to read but the complete works of Kant, I would sit next to that pile of books wishing I had something to read.

It would take too long to elaborate on the many errors, misconceptions, and outright falsehoods that vitiate Kant’s philosophy and render it null and void. His beliefs that the highest cause was inaccessible to us [80]; that man was nothing but “a mere trifle” relative to “the omnipotence of nature” [80]; that mankind was on an upward course of moral progress and improvement [78-79]; that human reason was the highest source of knowledge and that human instinct was a reliable guide, and even a ‘voice of God” [80]; that God “will make up for our own lack of righteousness so long as our attitude is sincere” [114]; that it is “absurd” to claim “theoretical knowledge of the transcendental” [114] – these and other errors reveal a system of thought totally opposed to biblical Christianity.

Kant’s “categorical imperative,” his attempt to provide a foundation for human ethics on human reason alone, was a complete failure. For example, someone could reason: “Jews are a menace to mankind. If everyone did as I am doing and killed Jews, the world would be a better place. Therefore, killing Jews is ethical.”

Kant’s pontifications on human knowledge and perception lacked a solid foundation. If we are nothing but matter and our knowledge and perceptions are thus nothing more than chemistry and biology, or if we have immortal souls created by God and can perceive and reason as we do because we are made in the image of God, in either case Kant’s epistemological guesswork was very wide of the mark, superfluous, and irrelevant.

Someone who spent one year diligently studying Kant in the pursuit of wisdom would at the end of that year be farther from his goal than he was when he started. At best, a brief examination of Kant can be useful in understanding the many evils of modern thought – especially in Germany, which was deeply infected by Kant’s poisonous and foolish ideas.[4]

[1] Immanuel Kant, An Answer to the Question: What is Enlightenment? (London 2009), pp. 111, 26, and 76 respectively. Future quotes will not be footnoted but will give the page number in the body of text.

[2] For a quote as well as more information see “Kant and racism,” Philosophical Misadventures: The Thin Ice of Reason; http://www.philosophicalmisadventures.com/?p=20

[3] http://www.hitler.org/writings/Mein_Kampf/mkv1ch11.html; accessed Sept. 2010. Collections of sayings about the Jews were published so anti-Semites could get ideas from various thinkers without having to bother with a lot of tedious and extraneous philosophical ideas.

[4] A useful analysis of some problems with Kant’s thought as well as of his relevance to current philosophical trends is found in Stephen R.C. Hicks’ Explaining Postmodernism: Scepticism and Socialism from Rousseau to Foucault (Phoenix AZ, 2004).

Nietzsche and the Jewish Menace to Civilization

admin — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 19:41:16 +0000

The Jewish menace to civilization

It is necessary to look at some other ideas about the Jews expressed by Nietzsche in his book. For one thing, he stressed the racial toughness of the Jews: “Psychologically, the Jews are a people gifted with the very strongest vitality . . .” (24). The Jews have “the most profound national instinct, the most powerful national will to live, that has ever appeared on earth.” (27). Hitler had the same idea:

The mightiest counterpart to the Aryan is represented by the Jew. In hardly any people in the world is the instinct of self-preservation developed more strongly than in the so-called ‘chosen.’ Of this, the mere fact of the survival of this race may be considered the best proof. Where is the people which in the last two thousand years has been exposed to so slight changes of inner disposition, character, etc., as the Jewish people? What people, finally, has gone through greater upheavals than this one-and nevertheless issued from the mightiest catastrophes of mankind unchanged? What an infinitely tough will to live and preserve the species speaks from these facts! [Mein Kampf vol. I chapt. 11].

This was by no means unique to Hitler and Nietzsche. How else to explain the mysterious survival of the Jews in strictly human terms? Christians and Jews can explain the mystery as the result of the will of God and his covenant with Abraham. Let those who scoff at this try to present a more credible empirically verifiable and falsifiable alternative. They can’t.

Although I have confined myself so far almost exclusively to one of Nietzsche’s books for the sake of clarity and simplicity, some of Nietzsche’s comments from Beyond Good and Evil are useful in this context. This book too, by the way, was published by Nietzsche before his collapse, so his sister’s influence is not relevant. Anyway, Nietzsche says “But the Jews are undoubtedly the strongest, most tenacious, and purest race now living in Europe. They understand how to assert themselves even under the worst conditions (better even than under favourable conditions) . . .” (Part Eight, 251).[i] In the same context Nietzsche added that it was necessary for thinkers concerned about the future of Europe to “take the Jews as well as the Russians into account as, for the time being, the surest and most probable factors in the great interplay and struggle of forces” (251).

This is rather peculiar. The Jews are the strongest race in Europe? They know how to assert themselves? A sure factor in the great struggles of the day? Even before his breakdown, Nietzsche revealed himself here as a man with a very strange way of looking at things. Significantly, Nietzsche says in this same section that no more Jews should be allowed into Germany because they were a threat to the survival of Germany:

That Germany has a richly sufficient number of Jews, that the German stomach and German blood have difficulty (and will still have difficulty for a long time to come) absorbing even this quantum of “Jew” in the way the Italians, the French, and the English have absorbed them, as a result of a stronger digestive system—that is the clear message and language of a general instinct which we should listen to and according to which we must act. “Let no more Jews in! And especially bar the doors to the east (also to Austria)!” So orders the instinct of a people whose type is still weak and uncertain, so that it could be easily erased, easily dissolved away by a stronger race (251).

Nietzsche’s strangeness becomes even more evident when he says “That the Jews, if they wanted to—or if people were to force them, as the anti-Semites seem to wish to do—could even now become predominant, in fact, quite literally gain mastery over Europe, is certain; that they are not working and planning for that is equally certain” (251).

The Jews could gain mastery over Europe if they wanted to? No sensible person would claim that Jewish butchers, bakers, candle-stick makers, Talmud scholars, lawyers, and teachers had the ability to gain mastery over Europe. Nietzsche is here showing an idea of the Jews that was completely divorced from reality. Within a few years he would progress in his understanding from the perception that the Jews could have the mastery of Europe but were not aiming for it, to the perception, stated in The Antichrist, that they were undermining European civilization to ensure their own survival.

Maybe someone who studied Nietzsche in more depth (not that I recommend this) could show how the progression of his insanity was evident in his writings. That seems to be the case, in this instance at least. Obviously, the man was not the picture of mental health one month and stark raving mad the next month. But, such speculations aside, let us examine Nietzsche’s final view as expressed in The Antichrist. There Nietzsche wrote that the Jews used decadence to ensure their own self-preservation by undermining and weakening people who would otherwise be a threat to them:

Psychologically, the Jews are a people gifted with the very strongest vitality, so much so that when they found themselves facing impossible conditions of life they chose voluntarily, and with a profound talent for self-preservation, the side of all those instincts which make for decadence–not as if mastered by them, but as if detecting in them a power by which “the world” could be defied (24).

The cunning, tricky, and devious Jews are not decadent themselves—they are, after all, “gifted with the very strongest vitality.” No, they use decadence to achieve their goal of domination:

The Jews are the very opposite of decadents: they have simply been forced into appearing in that guise, and with a degree of skill approaching the non plus ultra of histrionic genius they have managed to put themselves at the head of all decadent movements (–for example, the Christianity of Paul–), and so make of them something stronger than any party frankly saying Yes to life. To the sort of men who reach out for power under Judaism and Christianity,–that is to say, to the priestly class–decadence is no more than a means to an end. Men of this sort have a vital interest in making mankind sick . . . (24).

Notice that the Jews are at the head of all movements of decadence. This was the view stated by Wagner, whom Nietzsche deeply admired for a long time. Democracy, a free press, socialism, bad music, capitalism, worker unrest, failure to admire Nietzsche, Christianity—anything that conflicted with an imaginary ideal could be attributed to Jewish corruption. Of course, Bolshevism was unknown in Nietzsche’s day, but someone who could blame the Jews for all forms of decadence, including socialism, would have no difficulty in linking them to whatever else might come up.

Nietzsche went on to point out that the Jewish problem was a racial problem: “The whole disaster was only made possible by the fact that there already existed in the world a similar megalomania, allied to this one in race, to wit, the Jewish . . .”(44). All of this “is not an accident due to the chance talents of an individual, or to any violation of nature. The thing responsible is race. The whole of Judaism appears in Christianity as the art of concocting holy lies . . .” (44).

Defenders of Nietzsche ignore or minimize his comments about the Jews, sometimes even stating the exact opposite of the truth in this matter—whether through ignorance, or through sincere inability to recognize their hero’s faults, or through deliberate deception to protect Nietzsche’s reputation I won’t presume to guess.

It is interesting that the Chinese Communists also saw Christianity as a trick devised to oppress people. They claimed that the American imperialists were “using the Bible to anaesthetize people in order to enslave them.”[ii] This does not mean that they were influenced by Nietzsche—though some Chinese intellectuals were (and are) more well informed about Western philosophical trends than many realize. That religion was used by the capitalists to keep people satisfied with their oppressed state was a basic idea of Marxism long before Nietzsche. He had a similar idea, only he blamed not the capitalists, but the Jews.

[i] Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil.

[ii] Stephen Wang, The Long Road to Freedom: The Story of Wang Mingdao (Tonbridge 2002), p. 32.

Book Index

admin — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 18:07:57 +0000

Index

95 Theses, Martin Luther, 67, 84

abortion, 41, 138, 176, 203, 379, 391, 392, 394, 449, 450

another holocaust, 451

Adams, John, 239, 240

Adolf Hitler: The Making of a Fuhrer (Who was Responsible?), Walter S. Frank, 235, 324

Age of Reason, The, Thomas Paine, 431

Ahasuerus, 319

Al Qaeda, 442

American Eugenics Society

Case for Sterilization, 379

American Friends Service Committee, 221

Anthropologie, H. S. Chamberlain, 336

Antichrist: Curse on Christianity, The, Friedrich Nietzsche, 399, 400, 403–4

anti-Semitism. See also Christian:anti-Semitism

Christian, 5, 7, 9, 11, 15, 209–13, 239

modern racial, 5, 7, 10, 12, 14, 15, 88, 94, 97–100, 117, 152, See also German anti-Semitism

beginnings, 239, 250

not a biblical concept, 195, See also biblical teaching and the Jews

Archbishop of Canterbury, 183

Archbishop of Cologne, 62

Archbishop of Mainz, 62

Arndt, Ernst Moritz, 276

Aryan Christianity, 183, 289, 315, See also Germanic Christianity, See also Folkish Ideology

Aryan supremacy, 2, 10, 43, 94, 98, 117, 129, 138, 177, 187, 193, 214, 311, 321, 334, 357, 389, 438

Augustine, 56, 57, 359

Auschwitz, 20, 28, 42, 56, 262, 285, 384, 435

Austrian churches

Nazi policies towards, 121–22

Avrich, Paul, 232, 233

Russian Rebels: 1600-1800, 232

Barmen Declaration, 193–95

Bauer, F.C., 198

Bayreuth circle, 286, 321, 335, See also Wagner circle

dedicated to popularizing Wagner’s ideas, 321

Beer Hall Putsch, 75, 168

Behrens, Pastor Johann Gerhard, 175

Benedict XII, 62

Berlin Embassy, William Russell, 220

Bernhardi, General Friedrich von

war a biological necessity, 277

Bertram, Cardinal Adolf, 140, 150, 175, 189, 202, 208

Beyond Good and Evil, Friedrich Nietzsche, 410, 413, 416, 421

biblical concept of death, 373

biblical concept of evil

Holocaust not new in the context of, 231

Satan, 16–17

two pronged, 16

biblical concept of freedom, 275

biblical concept of government, 215–20, 266, 423, 436–38, See government:biblical concept of

biblical concept of man, 274

original sin, 19–22

biblical teaching and the Jews

Apostles, 64–65

Paul, 6, 14, 22, 23–26, 27, 29, 30–32, 32–33, 39, 40, 52, 54, 57, 62, 64, 65, 66, 67, 72, 76, 82, 85, 86, 136, 141, 143, 155, 156, 177, 184, 197, 207, 209, 213, 216, 217, 286, 289, 290, 295, 348, 354, 360, 412, 413, 414–15, 417, 419, 424, 437

all humanity equally unable to earn God’s favor, 30–31

future redemption of the Jews, 62

guilty of the blood of the Lord by communing unworthily, 64

on being a Christian, 23–26

righteousness of God obtained through faith in Christ applies to all humanity, 31

servants of the Lord must be meek and gentle towards those who oppose, 66

shared Christ with those who attacked him, 64

though enemies of the gospel Jews are beloved, 32

went to synagogue after synagogue teaching of Christ and forgiveness of sins, 64

wicked people claiming to be Christian to be put out of the church, 27

New Testament, 32–33, 39, 41, 42

the crucifixion, 34, 35, 38, 39

Gentile culpability, 35, 38

Old Testament massacres, 45–47

Bishop Jean of Speyer, 62

Bishop of Bavaria, 208

Bishop of Trier, 62

Bismarck, Otto von, 104, 141, 144, 171, 292, 377, 412

Blavatski, Madame, 293

Blood Purge, 102, 105, 190, 198, 322

Bolotnikov, Ivan, 232, 233

Bolshevism, 89, 121, 141, 151, 182, 188, 196, 418, 436

Bondage of the Will, Martin Luther, 67

Bonhoeffer, Dietrich, 212, 213, 226

Boris III, King of Bulgaria, 221

Bormann, Martin, 22, 100, 105, 110, 123, 136, 141, 142, 175, 180, 181, 182, 184, 212, 386, 402, 425

Braune, Pastor, 176

Brownshirts. See SA (Sturmabteilung, storm troopers, Brownshirts)

Buch, Walter, 22, 118

Buechner, Ludwig, 273

Bulavin, Kondrati, 232

Bultmann, Rudolf, 199, 200, 355

Bungardt, K.M., 271

Bunyan, John

Pilgrim’s Progress, 266

Calvin, John, 437

Case for Sterilization, American Eugenics Society, 379

Catholic Centre Party, 113, 139, 169, 177

Chamberlain, Houston Stewart, 10, 81, 88, 101, 102, 150, 198, 248, 250, 258, 287, 289, 311, 319, 321, 334–60, 366, 368, 380, 390, 410, 411, 414, 422, 423, 430, 441

advocated purging Jewish influence from Christianity, 410

Anthropologie, 336

early member of Nazi party, 335

hailed as a prophet and founder of National Socialism, 335

Jewish historical understanding identical to Nietzsche, 410

obsessed with racial purity, 366

on Christ and the Bible, 350–60

on the Jews, 335–50

Race and Nation, 335

The Foundations of the Nineteenth Century, 334, 335, See also Foundations of the Nineteenth Century, The, Houston Stewart Chamberlain

Christian

anti-Semitism, 5, 17

medieval, 55, 56

concepts of the government, 58, 59

concepts of the Jews, 56–57

Augustine, 56–57

Bernard of Clairvaux, 56

Crusades. See Crusades

Gregory of Nyssa, 63

Hippolytus, 63

John Chrysostom, 63, 65, 66

Martin Luther, 66, 67, 144, See also Luther, Martin

moral doctrines, 59, 60

restraints against, 54, 56–61

Count Otto of Burgundy, 60

Emperor Frederic I, 61

Emperor Henry IV, 60

Holy Roman Emperor Henry VI, 60

King Stephen of England, 60

Louis IX of France, 61

Louis VII of France, 61

Richard I of England, 61

William de Longchamp, 61

opposition to Hitler’s policies, 172–76

Bishop Dibelius, 184, 185

Cardinal Pacelli, 104

churches were only organizations to give sustained opposition, 195

Confessing Church. See Confessing Church

euthanasia

Bishop Galen, 175, See under Galen, Bishop

Bishop Preysing, 176

Bishop Theophil Wurm, 175

Cardinal Adolf Bertram, 175

Ernst Wilm, 176

Pastor Braune, 176, See under Braune, Pastor

German vs. non-German Christians, 221–22

lack of, 170, 178, 179, 190

Martin Niemoller, 144. See under Niemoller, Martin

Pastor Johann Gerhard Behrens, 175

Pastor Karl Friedrich Stellbrink, 175

Pastor Schneider, 185, 189, 224

Pastor von Jan of Oberlenningen, 173, 174

support of Hitler’s policies

coerced, 122

conventional secular explanations for, 20

Germanic Christianity, 198, See Germanic Christianity

what is a false?, 26–28

what is a?, 23–26, 155–57

the Church, 39

Christian German Movement, 196

Chronicle of Solomon bar Simson

insults Christianity, 71

Chrysostom, John, 7, 12, 53, 54, 56, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67

Church Ministry, 175, 206, 207

Church of Rome, 61, 63, 202–3

Archbishop of cologne, 62

Archbishop of Mainz, 62

Benedict XII, 62

Bernard of Clairvaux, 62

Bishop Jean of Seyer, 62

Bishop of Trier, 62

Henry VI, 60

Innocent III, 62

Innocent IV, 62

Joshua Trachtenberg, 62

opposition to Hitler’s policies

Bishop of Mainz, 202

Cardinal Pacelli, 104

Mit Brennender Sorge, 103

protests, 104, 124, 140

papal bulls, 62, 140

support of Hitler

Concordat, 103, See also under Concordat with the Vatican

Clairvaux, Bernard of, 56, 62

Class, Heinrich, 295

Cohen, Nick, 429, 442

What’s Left?, 442

Communism, 97, 110, 130, 197, 300, 308, 350, 425, 426, 427, 429, 443, 445

parallels with National Socialism, 427–29

Communist Party, 138, 164, 170, 204

concentration camps, 118, 122, 124, 125, 138, 144, 171, 172, 173, 188, 189, 195, 196, 427

Auschwitz. See under Auschwitz

Buchenwald, 125, 185, 189, 224

Sachsenhausen, 124, 144, 169, 185, 196

Concordat with the Vatican, 2, 8, 83, 103, 104, 121, 123, 139, 140, 141, 147, 184, 202, 203–4, 241

promised rights and security, 103

violated, 103–5, 140

Confessing Church. See also Prussian Union of the Confessing Church

Conway, Professor John, 2, 9, 12, 103, 104, 121, 122, 123, 124, 125, 133, 135, 140, 143, 146, 177, 179, 180, 181, 182, 183, 184, 186, 188, 195, 196, 202, 211

The Nazi Persecution of the Churches 1933-1945, 2, 9, 103

Count Otto of Burgundy, 60

Crisis of German Ideology, The, Prof. Mosse, 2, 80, 230, 250, 288, 308, 362

Crusades, 7, 11, 18, 30, 43, 50, 54, 55, 60, 61, 62

Jewish death toll, 55

Crystal Night. See under Kristallnacht (Crystal Night)

d’Holbach, Baron, 239

Dachau, 124, 125, 144, 176, 205

Darwin, Charles, 2, 49, 98, 128, 138, 155, 201, 229, 252, 258, 282, 288, 362–80, 383, 390, 392, 393, 394, 421, 436

basic rule of life, 366

saw extermination of lesser developed races as natural, 364

The Descent of Man, 394

The Origin of Species, 364, 365

white race superior, 364

Darwinism, 10, 33, 49, 94, 95, 97, 110, 130, 139, 163, 164, 165, 206, 221, 270, 287, 350, 362–70, 370, 371, 373, 375, 376, 378, 379, 383, 384, 390, 391, 392, 394, 400, 420, 421, 427, 430, 431, 438, 442, 443, 445, 452

arguments against connections to Hitler and National Socialism, 362, 365, 369, 370

basic rule of life, 366

connections to National Socialism and Hitler, 362–69

consistency with Haeckel’s ideas, 390–94

devoid of moral imperatives to protect the Jews, 451–52

same spirit of the insignificance of individual humans persists today, 374, 379

understanding humans through study of insects, 375

Dawkins, Richard, 385, 387, 438

Der Schwarze Corps, 104

Descartes, 237, 238

divine revelation unnecessary, 237

first modern philosopher, 237

wisdom within the self, 237

Descent of Man, The, Charles Darwin, 364, 394

Dictionnaire philosophique, Voltaire, 239

Diderot, 239

Diederichs, Eugen, 295, 296

Dietrich, Dr., 198

Dinter, Artur, 335

Ecce Homo, Friedrich Nietzsche, 400

Eckart, Dietrich, 126, 247, 335

Eichmann, Adolf, 25, 181, 252, 280

Eight Orations Against the Jews, 63

Emperor Frederic I, 61

Emperor Henry IV, 60

Enabling Bill of 1933, 169

End of Faith, The, Sam Harris, 446, 447

Engelmann, Bernt, 104, 171, 173

Enlightenment, 10, 80, 99, 108, 111, 139, 164, 234, 237–43, 245, 265, 276, 282, 284, 305, 306, 316, 340, 347, 370, 429, 434, 440, 442, 445, See also Kant, Immanuel

appealed to the modern, liberal, and secular sectors of society, 14

Descartes, 237

elevated reason and rejected revelation, 198

gave birth to destructive false philosophies, 18

Holocaust consistent with Enlightenment thought, 251

Kant, 245

led to churches abandoning basic doctrines, 80, 198

nation began to assume quasi-religious importance, 81

turning away from traditional religion was one of the most essential characteristics of, 98

Essay on the Inequality of the Human Races (1853-55), Arthur de Gobineau, 284

Eternity, Ernst Haeckel, 375, 376, 381

eugenics, 100, 369, 379, 383, 388

euthanasia, 9, 175–76, 204, 209, 246, 378, 379, 438

Evans, Richard, 3, 13, 77, 107, 159, 162, 164, 222, 253, 333, 378, 395

Explaining Hitler, Ron Rosenbaum, 227

Faith Movement of German Christians, 196

19th century science superior to biblical revelation, 201

considered original sin an insult to the Aryan, 197

cross redefined as sacrifice for National Socialism, 197

National Socialism a continuation of Protestant Reformation, 198

saw Jesus as Aryan, 197

saw main task as being Germans, 197

totally abandoned scripture, 197

Faulhaber, Cardinal, 153, 202

Federation for a German Church, 196

Feuerbach, 131, 309, 316

Fichte, Johann Gottlieb, 10, 76, 88, 117, 155, 157, 201, 229, 239, 243, 244, 253–55, 255, 258–67, 268, 270, 271, 272, 276, 279, 284, 288, 289, 291, 293, 304, 307, 323, 334, 347, 390, 440

advocated German racial purity, 263

Eighth Address, 263

eternal life exists for fatherland, not individuals, 260

freedom exists in being German, 261

German supremacy, 260

Jews an alien and contaminating body, 264

thought only solution was to return Jews to their promised land, 264

love for the fatherland to be above all, 263

Thirteenth Address, 264

Twelfth Address, 263

Final Solution, 113, 181, 210, 222

Fischer, Eugen, 287

Folkish Ideology, 10, 80, 98–100, 136, 164, 229, 239, 243, 272, 280, 287–96, 304, 309, 317, 334, 336, 339, 341, 350, 362, 369, 370, 375, 383, 384, 386, 389, 422, 440, 441, See also Wagner, Richard

and German romanticism, 292

core emphasis, 287

led to emphasis on purifying and unifying the Folk, 306

foundational to Naziism, 288

founders

Julius Langbehn, 288

Paul de Lagarde, 288

opposed to traditional (biblical) Christianity, 295, 296

Pan-German Association, 294

penetrated the highest levels of German culture, 321

predecessor to National Socialism, 243, 288

strengthening of, 292–93

supremacy of blond Aryans a common theme, 422

Folkish Ideology and National Socialism

a result of elevating human reason, 438, 439

summary of major philosophic themes leading to, 440–42

Foundations of the Nineteenth Century, The, Houston Stewart Chamberlain, 334, 335

brief summary of, 334