„Nichts ist wahr, alles ist erlaubt“: Die Folgen von Martin Heideggers „Geschichte der Gegenwart“ und Michel Foucaults „Diskursanalyse“ auf Medien und Hochschulen
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„Nichts ist wahr, alles ist erlaubt“: Die Folgen von Martin Heideggers „Geschichte der Gegenwart“ und Michel Foucaults „Diskursanalyse“ auf Medien und Hochschulen
Jahrbuch Wissenschaftsfreiheit, Vol. 2 (2025), Iss. 1 : pp. 173–212
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Prof. Dr. phil. Henriette Haas, Titularprofessorin (im Ruhestand) am Psychologischen Institut der Universität Zürich, https://www.psychologie.uzh.ch/de/institut/ueber-uns/angehoerige/titular/haas.html.
Abstract
“Nothing is true, everything is permitted”: The consequences of Martin Heidegger’s “History of the Present” and Michel Foucault’s “Discourse Analysis” on media and universities
Under the aegis of Michel Foucault, «French Theory» became firmly established at universities and in the media. He propagated the goals of the Counter-Enlightenment, which he had adopted from Martin Heidegger: the fight against reason and an anti-scientific distortion of history as a political strategy. His «discourse analysis» was based on subjective, superficial textual interpretation that disregarded the rules of linguistics and serious historiography. He justified this with frivolous, vague and misleading phrases. In 1976, Foucault even wanted to fuel a «race war» with a friend/enemy divide (in the spirit of Carl Schmitt). The fact that «Theory» is contaminated with the ideas of National Socialists is swept under the carpet by its supporters. Their relativistic pseudo-methodology was considered a failure early on. It stunted analytical thinking, which also had a negative impact on the media. «Constructions of reality» written according to such recipes are demagogic narratives and disinformation. They become entangled in self-contradictions and violate the veto of the sources. If research institutions and the media do not want to jeopardize their credibility, they must engage in critical debate. They should publish corrigenda and counterstatements to dubious intellectual products on their platforms if they have previously promoted, published or accredited them.