Peter Sloterdijk

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Peter Sloterdijk
21st-century philosophy
RegionWestern philosophy
SchoolPhenomenology, philosophical anthropology, posthumanism
Notable ideas
Spherology (Sphärologie), Human Park (Menschenpark), Gifts instead of Taxes

Peter Sloterdijk (

University of Art and Design Karlsruhe
. He co-hosted the German television show Im Glashaus: Das Philosophische Quartett from 2002 until 2012.

Biography

Sloterdijk's father was Dutch, his mother German. He studied philosophy,

Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe. His best-known Karlsruhe student and former assistant is Marc Jongen, a member of the Bundestag.[1] In 2002, Sloterdijk began to co-host Im Glashaus: Das Philosophische Quartett ("In the Glass House:[2] The Philosophical Quartet"), a show on the German ZDF television channel devoted to discussing key contemporary issues in-depth.[3]

Philosophical stance

Sloterdijk rejects the existence of

dualisms—body and soul, subject and object, culture and nature, etc.—since their interactions, "spaces of coexistence", and common technological advancement create hybrid realities. Sloterdijk's ideas are sometimes referred to as posthumanism,[4]
and seek to integrate different components that have been, in his opinion, erroneously considered detached from each other. Consequently, he proposes the creation of an "ontological constitution" that would incorporate all beings—humans, animals, plants, and machines.

Philosophical style

In the style of

Nietzsche, Sloterdijk remains convinced that contemporary philosophers have to think dangerously and let themselves be "kidnapped" by contemporary "hyper-complexities": they must forsake our present humanist and nationalist world for a wider horizon at once ecological and global.[5]
Sloterdijk's philosophical style strikes a balance between the firm academicism of a scholarly professor and a certain sense of anti-academicism (witness his ongoing interest in the ideas of
Osho, of whom he became a disciple in the late seventies).[6] Taking a sociological stance, Andreas Dorschel sees Sloterdijk's timely innovation at the beginning of the 21st century in having introduced the principles of celebrity into philosophy.[7] Sloterdijk himself, viewing exaggeration as necessary to catch attention, describes the way he presents his ideas as "hyperbolic" (hyperbolisch).[8]

Major Works

Critique of Cynical Reason

The Kritik der zynischen Vernunft, published by

Second World War and launched Sloterdijk's career as an author.[9]

Spheres

The trilogy Spheres is the philosopher's magnum opus. The first volume was published in 1998, the second in 1999, and the last in 2004.

Spheres deals with "spaces of coexistence", spaces commonly overlooked or taken for granted which conceal information crucial to developing an understanding of humanity. The exploration of these spheres begins with the basic difference between

narcissistic
detachment) and crises created when a sphere shatters.

Sloterdijk has said that the first paragraphs of Spheres are "the book that Heidegger should have written", a companion volume to Being and Time, namely, "Being and Space".[citation needed] He was referring to his initial exploration of the idea of Dasein, which is then taken further as Sloterdijk distances himself from Heidegger's positions.[10]

Nietzsche Apostle

On 25 August 2000, in Weimar, Sloterdijk gave a speech on Nietzsche; the occasion was the centennial of the latter philosopher's death. The speech was later printed as a short book[11] and translated into English.[12] Sloterdijk presented the idea that language is fundamentally narcissistic: individuals, states and religions use language to promote and validate themselves. Historically however, Christianity and norms in Western culture have prevented orators and authors from directly praising themselves, so that for example they would instead venerate God or praise the dead in eulogies, to demonstrate their own skill by proxy. In Sloterdijk's account, Nietzsche broke with this norm by regularly praising himself in his own work.

For examples of classical Western "proxy-narcissism", Sloterdijk cites

Nazis. Sloterdijk concludes the work by comparing Nietzsche's individualism with that of Ralph Waldo Emerson, as in Self-Reliance
.

Globalization

Sloterdijk also argues that the current concept of

Greek cosmology and the second the nautical globalization of the 15th and 16th centuries). The difference for Sloterdijk is that, while the second wave created cosmopolitanism, the third is creating a global provincialism. Sloterdijk's sketch of a philosophical history of globalization can be found in Im Weltinnenraum des Kapitals (2005; translated as In the World Interior of Capital), subtitled "Die letzte Kugel" ("The final sphere"). In an interview with Noema Magazine, Sloterdijk expanded upon the idea of “planetary co-immunism”, referring to the need to "share the means of protection even with the most distant members of the family of man/woman" when faced with shared threats such as pandemics.[13]

Rage and Time

Main article: Rage and Time

In his Zorn und Zeit (translated as Rage and Time), Sloterdijk characterizes the emotion of rage as a psychopolitical force throughout human history. The political aspects are especially pronounced in the Western tradition, beginning with the opening words of Homer's Iliad, "Of the rage of Achilles, son of Peleus, sing, O Goddess...". Sloterdijk acknowledges the contributions of psychoanalysis for our understanding of strong emotional attitudes: "In conformity with its basic erotodynamic approach, psychoanalysis brought much hatred to light, the other side of life." (Rage and Time, p. 14) Importantly, for Sloterdijk, Judeo-Christian conceptions of God ultimately "piggyback" on the feelings of rage and resentment, creating "metaphysical revenge banks". For Sloterdijk, "God thus becomes the location of a transcendent repository of suspended human rage-savings and frozen plans of revenge."[14]

Reprogenetics dispute

Shortly after Sloterdijk conducted a symposium on philosophy and Heidegger, he stirred up controversy with his essay "Regeln für den Menschenpark" ("Rules for the Human Park").[15] In this text, Sloterdijk regards cultures and civilizations as "anthropogenic hothouses," installations for the cultivation of human beings; just as we have established wildlife preserves to protect certain animal species, so too ought we to adopt more deliberate policies to ensure the survival of Aristotle's zoon politikon.

"The taming of man has failed", Sloterdijk laments. "Civilisation's potential for barbarism is growing; the everyday bestialisation of man is on the increase."

Because of the eugenic policies of the Nazis in Germany's recent history, such discussions are seen in Germany as carrying a sinister load. Breaking a German taboo on the discussion of genetic manipulation, Sloterdijk's essay suggests that the advent of new genetic technologies requires more forthright discussion and regulation of "bio-cultural" reproduction. In the eyes of Habermas, this made Sloterdijk a "fascist". Sloterdijk replied that this was, itself, resorting to "fascist" tactics to discredit him.[16] The core of the controversy was not only Sloterdijk's ideas but also his use of the German words Züchtung ("breeding", "cultivation") and Selektion ("selection"). Sloterdijk rejected the accusation of Nazism, which he considered alien to his historical context. Still, the paper started a controversy in which Sloterdijk was strongly criticized, both for his alleged usage of a fascist rhetoric to promote Plato's vision of a government with absolute control over the population, and for committing a non-normative, simplistic reduction of the bioethical issue itself. This second criticism was based on the vagueness of Sloterdijk's position on how exactly society would be affected by developments in genetic science. After the controversy multiplied positions both for and against him, Die Zeit published an open letter from Sloterdijk to Habermas in which he vehemently accused Habermas of "criticizing behind his back" and espousing a view of humanism that Sloterdijk had declared dead.[17]

Welfare state dispute

Another dispute emerged after Sloterdijk's article "Die Revolution der gebenden Hand" (13 June 2009; transl. "The revolution of the giving hand")

Frankfurter Allgemeine, one of Germany's most widely read newspapers. There Sloterdijk claimed that the national welfare state
is a "fiscal kleptocracy" that had transformed the country into a "swamp of resentment" and degraded its citizens into "mystified subjects of tax law".

Sloterdijk opened the text with the famous quote of

What Is Property?") "Property is theft", stating, however, that it is nowadays the modern state that is the biggest taker. "We are living in a fiscal grabbing semi-socialism – and nobody calls for a fiscal civil war."[20][21] He repeated his statements and stirred up the debate in his articles titled "Kleptokratie des Staates" (transl. "Kleptocracy of the state") and "Aufbruch der Leistungsträger" (transl. "Uprising of the performers") in the German monthly Cicero – Magazin für politische Kultur.[22][23][24]

According to Sloterdijk, the institutions of the welfare state lend themselves to a system that privileges the marginalized, but relies, unsustainably, on the class of citizens who are materially successful. Sloterdijk's provocative recommendation was that income taxes should be deeply reduced, the difference being made up by donations from the rich in a system that would reward higher givers with social status. Achievers would be praised for their generosity, rather than being made to feel guilty for their success, or resentful of society's dependence on them.[25]

In January 2010, an English translation was published, titled "A Grasping Hand – The modern democratic state pillages its productive citizens", in

City Journal.[27]
Sloterdijk's 2010 book, Die nehmende Hand und die gebende Seite, contains the texts that triggered the 2009–2010 welfare state dispute.

Honours and awards

Honorary doctorates

Film appearances

List of works

Works in English translation

Works in Spanish translation

Original German titles

References

  1. ^ Cf. Rudolf Walther in taz (die tageszeitung), 27 May 2016; "Man macht sich zum Knecht" (Marc Jongen, interviewed by Jens Jessen and Ijoma Mangold), Die Zeit, no. 23/2016 (subscription required)
  2. ^ from the old German expression "Wer selbst im Glashaus sitzt, sollte nicht mit Steinen werfen" = He who sits in a glass house should not throw stones
  3. ^ "Im Glashaus – Das philosophische Quartett, ZDF website". Archived from the original on 17 February 2009. Retrieved 5 May 2020.
  4. ^ Michael Kempe, "Neulich im Menschenpark: Die phantastische Anthropologie des Peter Sloterdijk", in Bernhard Kleeberg et alii (eds.), Die List der Gene: Stratageme eines neuen Menschen (Tübingen: Gunter Narr, 2001), pp. 151—170, specifically pp. 162—164.
  5. ^ Book Description for "Neither Sun Nor Death", MIT Press 2011
  6. ^ Die Tageszeitung interview dd. 13 June 2006, interview in Lettre International (in German)
  7. ^ Andreas Dorschel, "Denktagebücher: Zur Poetik des philosophischen Journals", Philosophische Rundschau LX (2013), no. 4, pp. 264—298, specifically pp. 293—297.
  8. ^ Holger von Dobeneck, Das Sloterdijk-Alphabet: Eine lexikalische Einführung in seinen Ideenkosmos, 2nd. ed. (Würzburg: Königshausen & Neumann, 2006), p. 10.
  9. ^ See Stefan Lorenz Sorgner, "In Search of Lost Cheekiness. An Introduction to Peter Sloterdijk's Critique of Cynical Reason", in Tabula Rasa, 2003.
  10. Heidegger's thought is given expression through a focus on the primordiality of space over time in fundamental ontology as articulated in numerous studies by the British-Lebanese philosopher and architect Nader El-Bizri in his investigation of "the place of being", of "dwelling", and primarily of Khôra
    .
  11. ISBN 9783518066157
    .
  12. ISBN 9781584350996
    .
  13. ^ Sloterdijk, Peter; Gardels, Nathan (12 June 2020). "Co-Immunism In The Age Of Pandemics And Climate Change". Noema Magazine. Retrieved 27 August 2020.
  14. ^ Francesco Klauser in The Berlin Review of Books, December 2010
  15. ^ See Frank Mewes, "Regulations for the Human Park: On Peter Sloterdijk's Regeln für den Menschenpark" Archived 15 February 2009 at the Wayback Machine, in Gnosis, Volume VI, No. 1, 2002.
  16. ^ "Peter Sloterdijk sème le trouble en prédisant l'avènement du surhomme". Le Temps. 28 September 1999.
  17. ^ "Anger as philosopher revives vocabulary of Third Reich"
  18. ^ Peter Sloterdijk "Die Revolution der gebenden Hand"
  19. ^ "Die Revolution der gebenden Hand – Peter Sloterdijk „belehrt“ Marx eines Richtigeren"
  20. ^ "Wo bleibt der Bürgerkrieg?". Archived from the original on 22 December 2010. Retrieved 7 August 2010.
  21. ^ "Peter Sloterdijk rebelliert gegen den "Zwangssteuerstaat" – Blasen zu Phrasen"
  22. ^ de:Cicero (Zeitschrift)
  23. ^ Kleptokratie des Staates, in Cicero, July 2009, p.42 Archived 17 August 2009 at the Wayback Machine
  24. ^ "Aufbruch der Leistungsträger", in Cicero, November 2009, p.94 Archived 29 January 2010 at the Wayback Machine
  25. ^ "Germany's welfare state under fire – One of Germany's foremost public intellectuals, Peter Sloterdijk, began the offensive on the welfare state"
  26. ^ "A Grasping Hand – The modern democratic state pillages its productive citizens"
  27. ^ "The Grasping Hand-The modern democratic state pillages its productive citizens"
  28. ^ a b c "Peter Sloterdijk". ZKM. 26 June 1947. Retrieved 8 August 2021.
  29. ^ a b c "At UVT, Culture is Capital!". West University of Timișoara. 8 August 2021. Retrieved 27 February 2023.
  30. ^ "Patron • Albert Schweitzer Foundation". Albert Schweitzer Foundation (in German). Retrieved 8 August 2021.
  31. ^ "Aedes Network Campus*". ANCB. 29 November 2011. Retrieved 8 August 2021.
  32. ^ "Reply to a parliamentary question" (PDF) (in German). p. 521. Retrieved 11 December 2012.
  33. ^ a b "Peter Sloterdijk & Peter Weibel – Kunsthalle Wien". Kunsthalle Wien. 4 March 2020. Retrieved 8 August 2021.
  34. ^ "CICERO Rednerpreis". CICERO Rednerpreis (in German). Retrieved 8 August 2021.
  35. ^ "Internationaler Mendelssohn-Preis zu Leipzig 2008". Mendelssohn-Haus Leipzig & Felix-Mendelssohn-Bartholdy-Stiftung (in German). 17 August 2016. Retrieved 8 August 2021.
  36. ^ "Philosoph Sloterdijk erhält "Europapreis für politische Kultur"". Nau (in German). 8 August 2021. Retrieved 8 August 2021.
  37. ^ "Hans Ringier Foundation: Peter Sloterdijk awarded the European Prize for Political Culture 2021". ringier.com. 7 August 2021. Retrieved 8 August 2021.
  38. ^ "Honorary doctorates 2011". University of Nijmegen. 2011. Retrieved 27 February 2023.
  39. ^ "At UVT, Culture is Capital!". West University of Timișoara. 8 August 2021. Retrieved 27 February 2023.

External links

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