''Infinite Mobilization'' () is a 1989 book by the German philosopher

Peter Sloterdijk Peter Sloterdijk (; ; born 26 June 1947) is a German philosopher and cultural theorist. He is a professor of philosophy and media theory at the University of Art and Design Karlsruhe. He co-hosted the German television show ''Im Glashaus: Das ...

. It critiques

modernity Modernity, a topic in the humanities and social sciences, is both a historical period (the modern era) and the ensemble of particular socio-cultural norms, attitudes and practices that arose in the wake of the Renaissancein the "Age of Reas ...

as a conception of

kinetics Kinetics ( grc, κίνησις, , kinesis, ''movement'' or ''to move'') may refer to: Science and medicine * Kinetics (physics), the study of motion and its causes ** Rigid body kinetics, the study of the motion of rigid bodies * Chemical k ...

that inevitably leads to disappointment, and promotes a view of life as a series of beginnings.

Summary

argues that

as a project is based on a conception of

where the world is controlled by humans who move it toward a future

utopia A utopia ( ) typically describes an imaginary community or society that possesses highly desirable or nearly perfect qualities for its members. It was coined by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book '' Utopia'', describing a fictional island socie ...

. This continuously leads to disappointment, as the utopian human actions set unexpected things in motion and create side-effects outside the control of

reason Reason is the capacity of Consciousness, consciously applying logic by Logical consequence, drawing conclusions from new or existing information, with the aim of seeking the truth. It is closely associated with such characteristically human activ ...

. The disappointment creates a new self-understanding where humans view themselves as self-destructive. From this premise, Sloterdijk critiques the modern project as "political kinetics". Sloterdijk characterises the modern project as an aggressive quest for movement for movement's own sake, and employs what he describes as the

Freiburg School __notoc__ The Freiburg school (german: Freiburger Schule) is a school of economic thought founded in the 1930s at the University of Freiburg. It builds somewhat on the earlier historical school of economics but stresses that only some forms of co ...

critical theory A critical theory is any approach to social philosophy that focuses on society and culture to reveal, critique and challenge power structures. With roots in sociology and literary criticism, it argues that social problems stem more from s ...

, associated with

Edmund Husserl , thesis1_title = Beiträge zur Variationsrechnung (Contributions to the Calculus of Variations) , thesis1_url = https://fedora.phaidra.univie.ac.at/fedora/get/o:58535/bdef:Book/view , thesis1_year = 1883 , thesis2_title ...

and

Martin Heidegger Martin Heidegger (; ; 26 September 188926 May 1976) was a German philosopher who is best known for contributions to phenomenology, hermeneutics, and existentialism. He is among the most important and influential philosophers of the 20th centu ...

, arguing against the very existence of a Frankfurt critical theory. Dismissing explanations of modernity based on negative concepts such as guilt, lack and scarcity, Sloterdijk promotes the view of life as a series of beginnings, drawing on

Friedrich Nietzsche Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (; or ; 15 October 1844 – 25 August 1900) was a German philosopher, prose poet, cultural critic, philologist, and composer whose work has exerted a profound influence on contemporary philosophy. He began his c ...

and on

Hannah Arendt Hannah Arendt (, , ; 14 October 1906 – 4 December 1975) was a political philosopher, author, and Holocaust survivor. She is widely considered to be one of the most influential political theorists of the 20th century. Arendt was bor ...

's notion of natality. Sloterdijk ends the book by saying that a "real critical theory, should it exist one day, will be identical to authentic

mysticism Mysticism is popularly known as becoming one with God or the Absolute, but may refer to any kind of ecstasy or altered state of consciousness which is given a religious or spiritual meaning. It may also refer to the attainment of insight in u ...

Publication

''Infinite Mobilization'' was first published in German by Suhrkamp Verlag on 19 January 1989. Its German title is ''Eurotaoismus. Zur Kritik der politischen Kinetik'', which means 'Eurotaoism: toward a critique of political kinetics'. Commenting on the German title, Sloterdijk says the word ''Eurotaoism'' can be understood as a joke, as a comment on an "Americataoism" that responds to Western crises by importing food and lifestyle trends from Asia, and as "a critique of planetary mobilization as the false

permanent revolution Permanent revolution is the strategy of a revolutionary class pursuing its own interests independently and without compromise or alliance with opposing sections of society. As a term within Marxist theory, it was first coined by Karl Marx and ...

Polity A polity is an identifiable political entity – a group of people with a collective identity, who are organized by some form of institutionalized social relations, and have a capacity to mobilize resources. A polity can be any other group of p ...

published Sandra Berjan's English translation as ''Infinite Mobilization'' in April 2020.

Reception

In ''

Die Tageszeitung ''Die Tageszeitung'' (, “The Daily Newspaper”), is counted as being one of modern Germany's most important newspapers and amongst the top seven. taz is stylized as ''die tageszeitung'' and commonly referred to as ''taz'', is a cooperative-own ...

'',

Mathias Bröckers Mathias Bröckers (born 26 June 1954) is a German journalist, publicist, political blogger and author, co-author or editor of political monographs, and novels (with Sven Böttcher). He was co-founder, culture and science editor of the ''taz,'' ...

wrote that Sloterdijk's writing style appears lighthearted but the subject in ''Infinite Mobilization'' is heavy. Bröckers wrote that a critique of kinetics is a critique of the actions and self-image that for long have characterised the West and Germany. He made a distinction between the book's call for awareness about human finitude and calls for religiosity and irrationality. Reviewing the English translation for the philosophy journal ''

Cosmos and History Open Humanities Press is an international open access publishing initiative in the humanities, specializing in critical and cultural theory. OHP's editorial board includes scholars like Alain Badiou, Jonathan Culler, Stephen Greenblatt, Jean-Cla ...

'', J. Daniel Andersson wrote that "yet another

immanent The doctrine or theory of immanence holds that the divinity, divine encompasses or is manifested in the material world. It is held by some philosophical and metaphysical theories of divine presence. Immanence is usually applied in monotheism, m ...

critique of modernity" may seem irrelevant in the 21st century, but the book is timely because it ties in with current discussions about the

Anthropocene The Anthropocene ( ) is a proposed geological epoch dating from the commencement of significant human impact on Earth's geology and ecosystems, including, but not limited to, anthropogenic climate change. , neither the International Commission ...

and

historiology Historiography is the study of the methods of historians in developing history as an academic discipline, and by extension is any body of historical work on a particular subject. The historiography of a specific topic covers how historians hav ...

, and can be read alongside

Dipesh Chakrabarty Dipesh Chakrabarty (born 1948, in Kolkata, India) is an Indian historian, who has also made contributions to postcolonial theory and subaltern studies. He is the Lawrence A. Kimpton Distinguished Service Professor in history at the Universit ...

's critique of the separation of human and natural sciences. Andersson summarised ''Infinite Mobilization'' as "a marriage between the total mobilization of

Ernst Jünger Ernst Jünger (; 29 March 1895 – 17 February 1998) was a German author, highly decorated soldier, philosopher, and entomologist who became publicly known for his World War I memoir '' Storm of Steel''. The son of a successful businessman and ...

and the dromology of

Paul Virilio Paul Virilio (; 4 January 1932 – 10 September 2018) was a French cultural theorist, urbanist, architect and aesthetic philosopher. He is best known for his writings about technology as it has developed in relation to speed and power, with diver ...

, interspersed with the

risk society Risk society is the manner in which modern society organizes in response to risk. The term is closely associated with several key writers on modernity, in particular Ulrich Beck and Anthony Giddens. The term was coined in the 1980s and its popul ...

Ulrich Beck Ulrich Beck (15 May 1944 – 1 January 2015) was a German sociologist, and one of the most cited social scientists in the world during his lifetime. His work focused on questions of uncontrollability, ignorance and uncertainty in the modern ag ...

and

's interpretation of the

will to power The will to power (german: der Wille zur Macht) is a concept in the philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche. The will to power describes what Nietzsche may have believed to be the main driving force in humans. However, the concept was never systematic ...

as the self-recapitulation of the identical".

References

External links

* Presentation at Sloterdijk's websit
in English
an
in German
{{Peter Sloterdijk 1989 non-fiction books Books by Peter Sloterdijk Modernity Suhrkamp Verlag books

Summary

Publication

Reception

References

Further reading

External links