The conception of anthropotechnics by Peter Sloterdijk

The paper presents an analysis of the conception of anthropotechnics by P. Sloterdijk. It is based on the new absolute imperative “You must change your life”, which calls on a person to work on himself. However, not everyone can hear that call. So the concept of anthropotechnics combines all types of practices and works of a person on his own life form. As a basic methodology, Sloterdijk uses Wittgenstein’s theory of the language games, the transformation of which forms a general system of practice and asceticism, as well as the study of discursive forms by M. Foucault, which leads him to an unlimited variety of disciplines. Sloterdijk finds his ideological inspiration in the ancient Greek word “ethos”, which he understands as the behavior or habit. The dual nature of the habit is considered: a person who is the property of his habits must reverse the conditions of possession/property and take control of what possesses him by starting to possess it on his own. By a detached subject, Sloterdijk understands the one who takes the first step in practicing life and performs the operation of self-extraction from the complex of joint situations, called “life” or “world”. Self-extraction is based on the distinction between two very different spheres of influence in the existence: the sphere of influence of my own powers and the sphere of influence of all other powers. For Sloterdijk,”being in the world” means to care only for what is one’s own and nothing else. Sloterdijk also characterizes acrobatic existentialism, which originates from F. Nietzsche, and reveals the phenomenon of faith, which allows to achieve the impossible. Sloterdijk divides actions into two forms: self-operation (optimization actions which I perform on myself) and having-oneself-operated-on (during such an action I expose myself to the influence of other people’s operations and allow them to shape me). An auto-operative curvature of the subject is how Sloterdijk calls the fact that having-oneself-operated-on refers back to self-operation. At the same time, self-realization is presented as a rejection of passivity, which must be done over and over again.

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