ÖIF at Whitsun Dialogue: Peter Sloterdijk on Europe, Ukraine and the challenges facing nation states

2023-05-30 14:44:21

Philosopher Peter Sloterdijk in conversation with editor Thomas Mayer; Panel discussion with international experts on current topics in Europe

Vienna (OTS) – On May 25, the German philosopher Peter Sloterdijk spoke at the invitation of the Austrian Integration Fund (ÖIF) at the 11th Styrian “Spirit & Present” Pentecost Dialogue at Seggau Castle with the European correspondent Thomas Mayer (“Der Standard”) regarding European values ​​and identity War in Ukraine and historical effects on current events in Europe. Against the background of his new book The Repentance of Prometheus, Sloterdijk combined themes from Greek mythology with contemporary phenomena; through the industrial revolution to today’s European development with all its complexity and challenges. The major challenges that Europe is currently having to master were the focus of the 11th Styrian “Spirit & Present” Whitsun Dialogue at Schloss Seggau, whose cooperation partner is the ÖIF.

“The modern nation-state is a relic”
Peter Sloterdijk, who is considered the most important intellectual in the German-speaking world, spoke, among other things, regarding the nature of the nation state: “As far as its territorial substance is concerned, the modern nation state is very often the relic of an expansion that took place under monarchical times, and we are filling it monarchical giants with democratic content.” In the 19th century, the European nation states used the new opportunities to industrialize war in order to conduct warfare more efficiently. This affected the areas of shipbuilding and artillery technology and ultimately led to the creation of the formula: “I hurt you from afar.” According to Sloterdijk, today, following the end of the Cold War, a new arms race and the formation of new formations can be seen: “After the implosion of the European possibilities of harming the neighbors from afar, as in the cold war and the new quasi-world war that is now being prepared between the great powers, new formations of this formula are emerging.”

“European is whoever takes part in this post-imperial project”
Regarding European identity, Sloterdijk says: “Europeans are those who take part in this post-imperial project.” It is important to do without imperialist structures and to strive for coexistent, peaceful cooperation among European states. The opposite happened, for example, in Turkey under Erdogan, since a new post-Turkish ideology prevails there, in Iran with its religious attempt at empire, and on Poland’s eastern border, which leads into imperialist territory. Against the background of historical context and the current situation in Ukraine, Sloterdijk discussed the importance of European defense policy: “In the 1960s, 70s and 80s, nobody foresaw the implosion of the Soviet Union. No one foresaw that there might be a post-Soviet nation issue once more, and no one foresaw that there might be a need to once once more pursue a substantially revised European defense policy.”

“Most states today are formatted incorrectly”
Peter Sloterdijk also comments on the current political situation and the historical role of states. He affirms that an ecological reformation of all political structures is necessary since most states are wrongly formatted and there are no more foreign countries to conquer. He emphasizes that the plantation economy never came to an end, but that the former plantation workers are now citizens: “The states can only be run as fiscal plantations for their own population. The state imperative to plunder has gone to fiscal self-government to this day. We have the situation, at least in some European countries, that half of the national product is harvested from social fiscal states.” Sloterdijk also believes that the known form of statehood does not have a very sustainable future, since the state itself is not sustainable. He therefore sees the European Union as a collective as a solution for the time being.

Insieme group on labor market and migration: “We need regulated immigration”
An Insieme group moderated by Rudolf Mitlöhner (courier) had already met at Seggau Castle on Thursday morning. There was a consensus on the need for regulated immigration: the top-class cast – from Rainer Münz, migration expert and Michael Spindelegger, Director General of the International Center for Migration Policy Development, to Sonja Ziganek, overall manager of integration programs in the ÖIF, to Markus Tomaschitz, Head of Human Resources at the automotive supplier AVL and Almina Besic, employee from the Johannes Kepler University Linz, also agreed that immigration should not be mixed up with the issue of asylum. A question that was also raised several times: Are we – Austria and Europe in general – attractive enough for highly qualified and motivated people?

About Peter Sloterdijk
The renowned German philosopher and internationally successful author regularly takes a critical look at current developments in society, religion and the economy in his publications. Together with Rüdiger Safranski, he hosted the ZDF discussion group “The Philosophical Quartet” for ten years. Since 2005 he has held the Austrian Decoration of Honor for Science and Art. Sloterdijk has taken part in discussion rounds organized by the ÖIF several times in recent years.

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