Heidegger and the Situationist International: A Revolution in Technology and Everyday Life

While Martin Heidegger and the Situationist International exist politically and ideologically opposed, the intersection of historical events, people and ideas creates a framework for investigating their common ground. The relationship between Situationist ideas, the revolutionary Paris events of 1968 and Heideggerian thought contains elements of both philosophical influence and historical connections. As the historical outline demonstrates, Heidegger influenced French philosophy across a variety of dimensions by way of Hebert Marcuse, Kostas Axelos, and Jean-Paul Sartre, all of whom were involved in the French New Left. The pertinence of the connections between Martin Heidegger, French philosophers and the events of May 1968 illuminates the notion that political and intellectual developments emerge shaped by and dependent on context.

After exploring the historical connections between Heidegger and French universities and intellectual circles in the 1960s, Heidegger and the Situationist International are examined philosophically in tandem. As both Heidegger and the Situationist International critique the advent of technology divorced from human values, there begins a discussion of some of the most philosophically important topics of our time, including authenticity, freedom, objectification, technology and everyday life.