Peter Bieri (author)
Peter Bieri | |
|---|---|
| Born | 23 June 1944 Bern, Switzerland |
| Died | 27 June 2023 (aged 79) Berlin, Germany |
| Pen name | Pascal Mercier |
| Occupation | Writer, philosopher |
| Alma mater | Heidelberg University |
Peter Bieri (23 June 1944 – 27 June 2023), better known by his pseudonym, Pascal Mercier, was a Swiss writer and
Academic background
Bieri studied
Bieri co-founded the research unit for Cognition and Brain studies at the German Research Foundation.[2] The focuses of his research were the philosophy of mind, epistemology, and ethics. From 1990 to 1993, he was a professor of the history of philosophy at the University of Marburg; from 1993 he taught philosophy at the Free University of Berlin while holding the chair of analytic philosophy, succeeding his mentor, Ernst Tugendhat.[3]
In 2007 he retired early, disillusioned by academic life and condemning what he saw as the rise of managerialism ("Eine Diktatur der Geschäftigkeit") and decline in respect for academic work.[4]
Pseudonym and work as a writer
As a writer, Bieri used the pseudonym Pascal Mercier, made up of the surnames of the two French philosophers Blaise Pascal and Louis-Sébastien Mercier. Martin Halter, in Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, criticized Bieri's attempt "to dress up the trite man from Bern in a French philosopher's lace jabot"[5] as a pretentious mannerism. Peter Bieri published five novels. Writing literature was to him a revelation of the writer's soul through moods: "An atmosphere – that is absolutely the most important thing in a book and it will reveal, like nothing else, the author's soul."[6] Reviewers identified “heart, woe and a lot of fate” as “his recipe for success”[7] which Bieri, aiming at “wellness literature”,[8] applied in each of his books with little variation.[9]
Death
Bieri died on 27 June 2023 in Berlin, at the age of 79.[10]
Awards and recognition
- Lichtenberg Medal 2006
- Marie-Luise-Kaschnitz Prize 2006
- Honorary Doctorate University of Lucerne 2010[11]
Works
Philosophical works
- Peter Bieri: Das Handwerk der Freiheit. Hanser, Munich 2001.ISBN 978-3-446-20070-8
- Peter Bieri: Eine Art zu Leben. Hanser, 2013. ISBN 978-3-446-24349-1
A full list of his philosophical works may be found on Wikipedia's German pages.
Novels
- Pascal Mercier: Perlmanns Schweigen, English Perlmann's Silence. Albrecht Knaus, Munich 1995. ISBN 3-442-72135-0
- Pascal Mercier: Der Klavierstimmer. Albrecht Knaus, Munich 1998. ISBN 3-442-72654-9
- Pascal Mercier: Nachtzug nach Lissabon, English ISBN 978-0-8021-4397-6
- Pascal Mercier: Lea (Novelle). Hanser, Munich 2007. ISBN 978-1-8488-7341-4
- Pascal Mercier: Das Gewicht der Worte. Hanser, Munich 2020. ISBN 978-3-446-26569-1
References
- ^ "Peter Bieri - Autoren - Hanser Literaturverlage". www.hanser-literaturverlage.de.
- ^ "ZiF - Center for Interdisciplinary Research - Homepage" (PDF). www.uni-bielefeld.de. Archived from the original on 24 February 2006.
- ^ "Prof. Dr. Peter Bieri (*1944)". Free University, Philosophy Department. Archived from the original on 22 June 2009.
- NZZ am Sonntag, 27 May 2007 (with quotation from Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 23 May 2007)
- ^ Martin Halter, Die Seele hängt voller Geigen. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 30 May 2007
- ^ Peter Bieri, Wie wollen wir leben? 2nd ed., Residenz Verlag, St Pölten 2011, p. 51: "Eine Atmosphäre – sie ist das absolut Wichtigste an einem Buch, und aus ihr spricht wie aus nichts sonst die Seele des Autors."
- ^ Martin Halter, Die Seele hängt voller Geigen. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. 30 May 2007: “Herz, Schmerz und viel Schicksal”, “sein Erfolgsrezept”. Similarly Joseph Hanimann, Mit dieser Geige findet sie den Tod. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung. 16 July 2007: “painting emotion in a way that borders on kitsch” (“an Kitsch grenzende Gefühlsbeschreibung”), and Volker Weidermann, Professor Kitsch. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. 10 May 2007.
- ^ Eberhard Falcke, Abgeschmackte Stimmungsmacherei. In: DIE ZEIT. 10 June 2007: “literarische Wellness”.
- ^ Jens Jessen, Monumentale Biederkeit. In: DIE ZEIT. 12 March 2020.
- ^ È morto lo scrittore Peter Bieri, alias Pascal Mercier (in Italian)
- ^ "Honorary Doctorates - University of Lucerne". www.unilu.ch. Retrieved 3 June 2019.
- ^ This is a popular science book on the topic of 'free will'. Marcus von Schmiede claims that Bieri does a good job in making the discussions surrounding determinism accessible to a wider audience; cf. von Schmiede's review of the book in Die Zeit (Hamburg, Germany), 13 December 2001.
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