RETHINKING THE HEIDEGGER-DEEP ECOLOGY RELATIONSHIP

Recent disclosures regarding the relationship between Heidegger's thou ght and his own version of National Socialism have led me to rethink m y earlier efforts to portray Heidegger as a forerunner of deep ecology . His political problems have provided ammunition for critics, such as Murray Bookchin, who regard deep ecology as a reactionary movement. I n this essay, I argue that, despite some similarities, Heidegger's tho ught and deep ecology are in many ways incompatible, in part because d eep ecologists-in spite of their criticism of the ecologically destruc tive character of technological modernity-generally support a ''progre ssive'' idea of human evolution.