In his best-selling book You Must Change Your Life, Peter Sloterdijk argued exer
cise and practice were crucial to the human condition. In The Art of Philosophy,
he extends this critique to academic science and scholarship, casting the train
ing processes of academic study as key to the production of sophisticated though
t. Infused with humor and provocative insight, The Art of Philosophy further int
egrates philosophy and human existence, richly detailing the foundations of this
relationship and its transformative role in making the postmodern self.
Sloter
dijk begins with Plato's description of Socrates, whose internal monologues were
so absorbing they often rooted the philosopher in place. The original academy,
Sloterdijk argues, taught scholars to lose themselves in thought, and today's un
iversities continue this tradition by offering scope for Plato's "accommodations
for absences."
