Die postfaktische Welt der Analphabetenwahrheiten

Abstract

The essay, celebrating the 70th birthday of the German author, essayist and philosopher Peter Sloterdijk, focuses on the main discrepancies in his opinions in the period between his Critique of Cynical Reason (1983) and the current social-critical and political engagement ( Die nehmende Hand und die gebende Seite , 2010 - Was geschah im 20. Jahrhundert? , 2016, including his confrontational polemics in the journal Cicero between 2014–2017). The author poses two questions: a) Did Sloterdijk’s readers consider his opinions a genuine critical philosophy, while they concealed what Hegel marked as “gloss of uncommonness“ of original conservativism? b) When and how can philosophical theories achieve an acceptable level of trustworthiness? The answers mark the determinants of Sloterdijk’s anthropology, generally falling under the concept of “Anthropocene“ and relying on several theories. The author highlights Sloterdijk’s theory of borders and his economic theory of the replacement of the tax system by a system of donation and charity. He also points out that Sloterdijk does not present any relevant arguments or explanations of practical implications of his theories. Instead he limits himself to moralistic and journalistic claims.