Review Article:
SLOTERDIJK, P. Regeln für den Menschenpark. Ein Antwortschreiben zu Heideggers Brief über den Humanismus. Suhrkamp, Frankfurt am Main, 1999.
This book is the publication of Peter Sloterdijk's controversial 1999 lecture given at the international symposium "Jenseits des Seins | Exodus from Being | Philosophie nach Heidegger" in connection with the "Schloss-Elmau-Symposien zur Philosophie am Ende des Jahrhunderts". In it, Sloterdijk opines that far from raising humanity from out of barbarity, humanism has in fact trapped humanity there. Taking what he sees as clues from Heidegger, Nietzsche and Plato, Sloterdijk seems to argue for an escape from barbarity through bio-technology. The emendation of individuals and society would then become biological and mechanical. His discussion of this view, having earned him the hostile attention of Jürgen Habermas, Ernst Tugendhat, and Rüdiger Safranski among others, is not without its critics ...