Abstract

The essay examines some core ideas in P. Sloterdijk′s more recent publications. Two issues are of concern here. Drawing on a Heideggerian terminology and position on the problem, Sloterdijk presents some critical descriptions of the expansive character of capitalist civilisation. But he doesn′t seem to acknowledge the real internal essence of modern society. Instead of this he presents a simplified anthropological interpretation of its social and cultural character. It is not, as he sees it, social structures nor moral or religious values which produce the character of our modern times, but rather a duality of beastly impulses, which on the one hand are prevented or tamed whilst on the other being allowed free reign of expression. In this context the author aligns himself with the increasingly obsolete tradition of disdain for the masses