In the intensified crisis of the West, philosophy is once again in demand. However, there is a lack of the unreservedness and sensitivity of Socratic questioning, which resists the widespread latent to overt totalitarian ideologization of thought. André Glucksmann reminds us that while "philosophy" is often discussed since the belief in progress has waned, the dimension of Socratic radicality of "know thyself" – the clear distinction between the true and the false – is obscured. Ideological positions, this legacy of the 20th century – nationalism, communism, fundamentalism – often shape the atmosphere in which a politicization of identity and necessity, ready to escalate to violence and self-abandonment, has opportunities to thrive. The author sees Martin Heidegger as the influential prototype of a self-contained totalitarian discourse.