Peter Sloterdijk - Philosophy

Philosophy

Like 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. Sloterdijk's philosophy 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). Notwithstanding the criticism that some of his thoughts have provoked, he refuses to be labeled a "polemic thinker", describing himself instead as "hyperbolic". His ideas reject 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 a hybrid reality. Sloterdijk's ideas are sometimes referred to as posthumanism, 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.