In his major investigation into the nature of humans, Peter Sloterdijk presents
a critique of myth - the myth of the return of religion. For it is not religion
that is returning; rather, there is something else quite profound that is taking
on increasing significance in the present: the human as a practising, training
being, one that creates itself through exercises and thereby transcends itself.
Rainer Maria Rilke formulated the drive towards such self-training in the early
twentieth century in the imperative 'You must change your life'.
In making hi
s case for the expansion of the practice zone for individuals and for society as
a whole, Sloterdijk develops a fundamental and fundamentally new anthropology.
The core of his science of the human being is an insight into the self-formation
of all things human. The activity of both individuals and collectives constantl
y comes back to affect them: work affects the worker, communication the communic
ator, feelings the feeler.
