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Not Saved: Essays After Heidegger
One can rightly say of Peter Sloterdijk that each of his essays and lectures is also an unwritten book. That is why the texts presented here, which sketch a philosophical physiognomy of Martin Heidegger, should also be characterized as a collected renunciation of exhaustiveness.
In order to situate Heidegger's thought in the history of ideas and problems, Peter Sloterdijk approaches Heidegger's work with questions such If Western philosophy emerged from the spirit of the polis, what are we to make of the philosophical suitability of a man who never made a secret of his stubborn attachment to rural life? Is there a provincial truth of which the cosmopolitan city knows nothing? Is there a truth in country roads and cabins that would be able to undermine the universities with their standardized languages and globally influential discourses? From where does this odd professor speak, when from his professorial chair in Freiburg he claims to inquire into what lies beyond the history of Western metaphysics?
Sloterdijk also considers several other crucial twentieth-century thinkers who provide some needed contrast for the philosophical physiognomy of Martin Heidegger. A consideration of Niklas Luhmann as a kind of contemporary version of the Devil's Advocate, a provocative critical interpretation of Theodor Adorno's philosophy that focuses on its theological underpinnings and which also includes reflections on the philosophical significance of hyperbole, and a short sketch of the pessimistic thought of Emil Cioran all round out and deepen Sloterdijk's attempts to think with, against, and beyond Heidegger. Finally, in essays such as "Domestication of Being" and the "Rules for the Human Park," which incited an international controversy around the time of its publication and has been translated afresh for this volume, Sloterdijk develops some of his most intriguing and important ideas on anthropogenesis, humanism, technology, and genetic engineering.
In order to situate Heidegger's thought in the history of ideas and problems, Peter Sloterdijk approaches Heidegger's work with questions such If Western philosophy emerged from the spirit of the polis, what are we to make of the philosophical suitability of a man who never made a secret of his stubborn attachment to rural life? Is there a provincial truth of which the cosmopolitan city knows nothing? Is there a truth in country roads and cabins that would be able to undermine the universities with their standardized languages and globally influential discourses? From where does this odd professor speak, when from his professorial chair in Freiburg he claims to inquire into what lies beyond the history of Western metaphysics?
Sloterdijk also considers several other crucial twentieth-century thinkers who provide some needed contrast for the philosophical physiognomy of Martin Heidegger. A consideration of Niklas Luhmann as a kind of contemporary version of the Devil's Advocate, a provocative critical interpretation of Theodor Adorno's philosophy that focuses on its theological underpinnings and which also includes reflections on the philosophical significance of hyperbole, and a short sketch of the pessimistic thought of Emil Cioran all round out and deepen Sloterdijk's attempts to think with, against, and beyond Heidegger. Finally, in essays such as "Domestication of Being" and the "Rules for the Human Park," which incited an international controversy around the time of its publication and has been translated afresh for this volume, Sloterdijk develops some of his most intriguing and important ideas on anthropogenesis, humanism, technology, and genetic engineering.
- GenresPhilosophyGermanyEssays
297 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2001
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About the author
Peter Sloterdijk
132 books580 followersPeter Sloterdijk is a German philosopher, cultural theorist, television host and columnist. He is a professor of philosophy and media theory at the University of Art and Design Karlsruhe.
Peter Sloterdijk studied philosophy, Germanistics and history at the University of Munich. In 1975 he received his Ph.D. from the University of Hamburg. Since 1980 he has published many philosophical works, including the Critique of Cynical Reason. In 2001 he was named president of the State Academy of Design, part of the Center for Art and Media in Karlsruhe. In 2002 he began to co-host Das Philosophische Quartett, a show on the German ZDF television channel devoted to discussing key issues affecting present-day society.
The Kritik der Zynischen Vernunft (Critique of Cynical Reason), published by Suhrkamp in 1983, became the best-selling philosophical book in the German language since the Second World War and launched Sloterdijk's career as an author.
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.
Peter Sloterdijk studied philosophy, Germanistics and history at the University of Munich. In 1975 he received his Ph.D. from the University of Hamburg. Since 1980 he has published many philosophical works, including the Critique of Cynical Reason. In 2001 he was named president of the State Academy of Design, part of the Center for Art and Media in Karlsruhe. In 2002 he began to co-host Das Philosophische Quartett, a show on the German ZDF television channel devoted to discussing key issues affecting present-day society.
The Kritik der Zynischen Vernunft (Critique of Cynical Reason), published by Suhrkamp in 1983, became the best-selling philosophical book in the German language since the Second World War and launched Sloterdijk's career as an author.
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.
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February 29, 2016Discutido en Visión de Paralaje Pág.232
July 12, 2023
"posthyperbolics from insight could be a stage of maturity; posthyperbolics from weakness is a phase of the economy"
The online library only functions as a facsimile of the real thing in moments of shortcomings, lapses, gaps. The (metaphorical) Critique-of-Cynical-Reason-epub not being in the (metaphorical) card-catalogue; the much lesser-known work has snuck onto the shelves, and why not.
Though in ostensible opposition with the movement of deconstruction, Sloterdijk appears not unconnected with the tradition, exemplified in a certain sympathetic-antagonistic reading of certain texts. The book contains competent, if not exceptional, essays on the Heideggerian oeuvre with reference to the Sloterdijkian Spheres project, however the most significant insight derives from the perception of "incommensurable euphoria" at the core of post-war critical theory. Intended as a critique of Crtitical-Theory-Gnosticism-Hyperbolics, this recognition (perhaps unintentionally) lays open the movement underlying such [already almost unreadable] projects as Minima Moralia, opening the criticism of certain Adorno-flavored hyperbolics in a new sympathetic mode often already (inappropriately) in wide practice in Nietzsche, and which, at present, may be the most fruitful avenue for their interpretation as living text.
On critical theroy/ gnosticism/ hyperbole:
If one lifts ones eyes from these findings in order to survey the older Critical Theory, then it becomes immediately evident how sharply the dualism between the euphoric and the dysphoric mode is marked in it. Yet to its distinctive features belongs the fact that one may only speak about the dysphoric mode, while the euphoric mode presents a secret that is to be stringently guarded. [...] The Critical Theorist [...] comes into the world with the mission to gauge it for is better possibilities. Because he cannot dare to confess himself to be the privileged memory of happiness and to this extent to be truth incarnate, the critical messiah must choose, [...] the form of indirect communication and help the world to experience itself as untruth incarnate.
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Gnosticism [...] First Dramaturgies that incessantly interpret a single fundamental event - the passing of the soul which has been constituted above and outside this world, through the world, and the soul's fate in the stretch of errancy allotted to it. [...] The appeal to gnosticism, rather, arises from the incommensurable experiences of happiness, in comparison with which most profane situations seem unreal, insipid, and unacceptably crude.
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There is nothing to be done with intense happiness - it is only accepted as a background of the world against which almost all figures from empirical life appear to be wayward.
The polemic against gnosticism-critical-theory, however, appears to thrust too far forward in what Sloterdijk obviously perceives to be the advantage of having trapped an enemy in a fatal bind:
Critical Theory—like every disappointed idealism—indemnifies itself against the existing through escalation. The antithesis, that the whole is the false, attains its sharpness only from surpassing the already sufficiently exaggerated thesis.
[...]
Perhaps the supposedly critical theory had to be realized as Aesthetic Theory because to its author it was at least indirectly clear that only works of art still endure as spaces for exaggeration, while everything that is merely discourse, theory, and complaint aspires to the cultural center, where what is wagered is taken back and what is acutely intensified is eroded. Indeed, perhaps culture is another word for the taming of hyperboles—
This is the response to "reification/Second Nature" (i.e. the critical-theory description of 'posthyperbolics') with the Nietzschean bend, "but that's how things really are in reality." Perhaps correct, though the argument is not as strong as we would hope. Sloterdijk, aware of this, posits a differentiation between the two, "Posthyperbolics from insight could be a stage of maturity; posthyperbolics from weakness is a phase of the economy." Frankly impossible, however, to say which is which (and that which we might think to belong to one category will perhaps eventually reveal itself to be the trace of the other...)
Though we cannot deny the critique of hyperbole "hits home," the dialogue conspicuously neglects the category of understatement, which, perhaps is equally, if not more, the domain of truth. And it is also possible to conceive the reality of a "gaze of truth" from which even Adorno's "exaggerations" are understatement. On the other hand, one occasionally wonders why Sloterdijk's project has a special elevated place for the work of reactionaries, (Cioran, Houllebecq, certains portraits of Nietzsche), and this makes one think perhaps P.S. would have the affinity to accumulate a certain popularity among the few of them who can read.
On Revolution Today:
In order to speak of the evidence of the whole, we no longer choose images of the petrified, the congealed, the impervious. [...] We are dealing with chaotic, accelerated structures, with nets and foam, with turbulences and indeterminate drifts, [...] These constructs are too intangible for one to lash out against them, and too complex to be guided by such a primitive movement as a ‘revolution’—a kinetic metaphor, of which one eventually notes how much it remains bound to the era of simple ontologies of solid bodies.
June 18, 2025
Peter Sloterdijk, nel suo libro "Non siamo ancora stati salvati", riflette sull'affermazione di Martin Heidegger secondo cui "solo un dio ci può salvare". Sloterdijk sostiene, con tono ironico, che non solo non siamo stati salvati, ma che non lo saremo mai. L'essere umano è descritto come un animale che crea culture senza alcun "fuori" a cui chiedere aiuto. La sua tesi centrale è che nessun dio può alterare il nostro destino, esplorando temi come umanismo, pessimismo e la coscienza delle macchine.
Il libro esplora diverse tesi chiave. Critica alla salvezza divina: Risponde ironicamente a Heidegger, affermando che non solo non siamo stati salvati, ma che non lo saremo mai.Cultura come addomesticamento: L'essere umano crea culture come forme di addomesticamento reciproco, senza alcun "fuori" a cui chiedere aiuto.
Temi contemporanei: Affronta questioni come clonazione, scoperte geografiche e la coscienza delle macchine, evidenziando un pessimismo radicale sulla condizione umana.
Peter Sloterdijk interpreta la globalizzazione come un fenomeno intrinsecamente legato alla modernità, sostenendo che essa non è solo un prodotto contemporaneo, ma ha radici storiche profonde, risalenti alle grandi scoperte geografiche. Identifica tre fasi della globalizzazione: terrestre, elettronica e quella attuale, sottolineando come l'umanità abbia trasformato il mondo in una "sfera" interconnessa.
L'autore critica l'idea di sfruttamento della natura, evidenziando che la libertà moderna coincide con tale sfruttamento. La sua visione suggerisce che l'attuale crisi ecologica è il risultato di questa libertà illimitata e che la società deve affrontare un futuro incerto, caratterizzato da culture in disgregazione e resistenze violente.
Peter Sloterdijk descrive il futuro della civiltà umana come incerto e potenzialmente catastrofico. Sostiene che l'attuale crisi ecologica e culturale è il risultato della libertà moderna, che coincide con lo sfruttamento della natura. Le culture locali, in via di disgregazione, reagiscono creando fenomeni di resistenza violenti. Sloterdijk pone la questione se le culture possano autoaddomesticarsi e suggerisce che l'umanità deve affrontare un'etica ascetica per garantire il bene comune, ma è scettico sulla possibilità di una rinuncia reale alla libertà associata al benessere.
Egli considera la pedagogia un elemento cruciale per il futuro della civiltà umana. Propone un compito urgente: formare individui capaci di affrontare la perdita delle "pareti immunitarie" delle strutture statali, promuovendo una nuova consapevolezza culturale e ambientale. Sloterdijk suggerisce che l'educazione dovrebbe incoraggiare un'etica della decrescita e della responsabilità condivisa, preparando le persone a vivere in un mondo interconnesso e sostenibile. La pedagogia, quindi, diventa uno strumento per sviluppare un habitus umano che possa adattarsi alle sfide dell'Antropocene e contribuire a una civilizzazione più resiliente.
Il libro esplora diverse tesi chiave. Critica alla salvezza divina: Risponde ironicamente a Heidegger, affermando che non solo non siamo stati salvati, ma che non lo saremo mai.Cultura come addomesticamento: L'essere umano crea culture come forme di addomesticamento reciproco, senza alcun "fuori" a cui chiedere aiuto.
Temi contemporanei: Affronta questioni come clonazione, scoperte geografiche e la coscienza delle macchine, evidenziando un pessimismo radicale sulla condizione umana.
Peter Sloterdijk interpreta la globalizzazione come un fenomeno intrinsecamente legato alla modernità, sostenendo che essa non è solo un prodotto contemporaneo, ma ha radici storiche profonde, risalenti alle grandi scoperte geografiche. Identifica tre fasi della globalizzazione: terrestre, elettronica e quella attuale, sottolineando come l'umanità abbia trasformato il mondo in una "sfera" interconnessa.
L'autore critica l'idea di sfruttamento della natura, evidenziando che la libertà moderna coincide con tale sfruttamento. La sua visione suggerisce che l'attuale crisi ecologica è il risultato di questa libertà illimitata e che la società deve affrontare un futuro incerto, caratterizzato da culture in disgregazione e resistenze violente.
Peter Sloterdijk descrive il futuro della civiltà umana come incerto e potenzialmente catastrofico. Sostiene che l'attuale crisi ecologica e culturale è il risultato della libertà moderna, che coincide con lo sfruttamento della natura. Le culture locali, in via di disgregazione, reagiscono creando fenomeni di resistenza violenti. Sloterdijk pone la questione se le culture possano autoaddomesticarsi e suggerisce che l'umanità deve affrontare un'etica ascetica per garantire il bene comune, ma è scettico sulla possibilità di una rinuncia reale alla libertà associata al benessere.
Egli considera la pedagogia un elemento cruciale per il futuro della civiltà umana. Propone un compito urgente: formare individui capaci di affrontare la perdita delle "pareti immunitarie" delle strutture statali, promuovendo una nuova consapevolezza culturale e ambientale. Sloterdijk suggerisce che l'educazione dovrebbe incoraggiare un'etica della decrescita e della responsabilità condivisa, preparando le persone a vivere in un mondo interconnesso e sostenibile. La pedagogia, quindi, diventa uno strumento per sviluppare un habitus umano che possa adattarsi alle sfide dell'Antropocene e contribuire a una civilizzazione più resiliente.
February 4, 2017
One must become a cyberneticist to be able to remain a humanist.
Of a techno-human culture that wants to be more than a successful barbarism, two things above all are required: psychological cultural formation and the cultural capacity for translation. Mathematicians must become poets, cyberneticists must become philosophers of religion, doctors must become composers, computer scientists must become shamans. Was humanity ever something other than the art of managing transitions? If the poles lie far apart, art becomes rare and neglect likely. Yet if human beings are machine-engineering animals then they are even more so beings that create metaphors. As soon as the intelligent machines of the future are successfully integrated into semi-personalist and semi-animist relationship games with human beings, there would be no need for people to fear becoming friends with their robot partners. It is the task of our times to develop a postmodern humor that allows cyberneticists to communicate in a collegial manner with Voodoo priests, mullahs, and cardinals.
Of a techno-human culture that wants to be more than a successful barbarism, two things above all are required: psychological cultural formation and the cultural capacity for translation. Mathematicians must become poets, cyberneticists must become philosophers of religion, doctors must become composers, computer scientists must become shamans. Was humanity ever something other than the art of managing transitions? If the poles lie far apart, art becomes rare and neglect likely. Yet if human beings are machine-engineering animals then they are even more so beings that create metaphors. As soon as the intelligent machines of the future are successfully integrated into semi-personalist and semi-animist relationship games with human beings, there would be no need for people to fear becoming friends with their robot partners. It is the task of our times to develop a postmodern humor that allows cyberneticists to communicate in a collegial manner with Voodoo priests, mullahs, and cardinals.
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