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Sloterdijk, Peter (1947-)

Peter Sloterdijk was born on June 26, 1947, in Karlsruhe, Germany, to a German mother and a Dutch father. He studied philosophy, history, and German at the universities in Munich and Hamburg and received a Ph.D. in German literature in 1976. In 1983 he became the shooting star of German philosophy with the publication of his early main work Die Kritik der zynischen Vernunft (The Critique of Cynical Reason), which is of particular importance for his views concerning time. It was translated into English in 1987. The most important work of his current period is a three-volume project titled Spheres. Since 2001 Sloterdijk has been the rector at the Staatlichen Hochschule für Gestaltung in Karlsruhe. with Ruediger Safranski he has been host of the television show Philosophical Quartet since 2002, in which leading intellectuals discuss topics of current importance. Together with Jürgen Habermas he is widely seen as the leading German philosopher alive today. Some academic philosophers regard him as a charlatan, however, claiming that he lacks academic rigor and deals with topics not normally discussed in academic philosophy. Yet, even Habermas reviewed Sloterdijk's Critique of Cynical Reason. Sloterdijk's views concerning time also stem from this work, still considered his most important.

Critique of Cynical Reason

Sloterdijk is a vehement critic of all abstract philosophical topics such as time; he regards it as futile to attempt to give a philosophical account of them. Only young people, outsiders, and clerics are supposed to be interested in them, according to him. Through such comments Sloterdijk's Nietzschean heritage becomes clear, as both thinkers argue against the plausibility of positions by reference to their origin. Neither of them commits the genetic fallacy, as they do not attempt to put forward the truth in correspondence with the world because they are skeptical of the possibility of grasping the truth in correspondence with the world. However, by putting forward this type of criticism, they try to undermine the plausibility of those beliefs against which they argue.

Sloterdijk's main contributions to the philosophy of time are his views concerning the Zeitgeist, the spirit of our times. In his Critique of Cynical Reason, he puts forward an interpretation of the Enlightenment similar to that of Nietzsche and Spengler. According to him, the Enlightenment brought about the end of the Christian domination of the Western world, a destruction of ideals, absolutes, or truths, with respect to both ontology and morality. In great detail he analyzes various types of critique with which the Enlightenment is connected: critique of revelation, religious illusion, metaphysical illusion, idealistic superstructure, moral illusion, transparency, natural illusion, and the illusion of privacy. According to Sloterdijk the history of criticism has been connected with laughter, gaiety, the affirmation of life, and the satiric tradition. However, the outcome of the Enlightenment brought about an attitude toward life that is different from that satirical tradition.

Cynicism and Kynicism

Our times are supposed to be dominated by misery, depression, and pessimism. Sloterdijk calls this attitude toward life “cynicism.” He distinguishes between “cynicism” and “kynicism,” and he is critical of the former but affirmative of the latter. Cynicism is enlightened false consciousness, and he regards it as a modern universal problem as it is supposed to be the dominant attitude toward life in enlightened countries. Kynicism, on the other hand, is also connected to an enlightened attitude toward life. In contrast to cynicism, it is an enlightened correct consciousness. Cynics are aware of the various types of criticisms. In addition, cynics see that they are part of institutions and bound to moralities that they cannot justify for themselves, given all the critiques of which they are aware. As a consequence, cynics are miserable. The philosopher and cultural critic Theodor Adorno (1903–1969) is seen as a prototype of a cynic by Sloterdijk. Kynics, on the other hand, are aware of the very same situation as cynics but, in contrast to cynics, kynics are able to say “yes” to it. Kynics are cheerful, life-affirming, full of vitality, and also cheeky, and they argue with the whole of their bodies, especially with its lower part, which is supposed to have been neglected throughout the history of philosophy. Diogenes is the role model of a kynic. Traditionally, the carnival, universities, and bohemians have been connected with the kynical tradition. By putting forward a critique of cynical reason, Sloterdijk tries to show why the kynical attitude is far more appealing and more appropriate for modern times than is the cynical one. In his descriptions of various cultures, Sloterdijk gives a poignant summary of the dominant Zeitgeist, and the presentation of such descriptions has been called Sloterdijk's greatest ability.

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