The Continent Without Qualities

Bookmarks in the Book of Europe
1. Auflage 2026
ISBN: 978-1-5095-7015-7
Verlag: Polity Press

Buch, Englisch, 216 Seiten

Europe has often been the target of criticism: Europe has lost touch with its core values, its leaders are indecisive and its citizens are confused, unsure whether they should be proud of their past or embarrassed by it – the litany of accusations is long, and the writers of obituaries have never been at a loss for words to descibe the death of the Old Continent.

Many of these criticisms are exaggerated and misguided, but nevertheless the time has come to rethink post-imperial Europe, assigning proper place to the burdens of its mixed history, including its colonial past, but also recalling its civilization-defining advances like its singular culture of learning and inventiveness, its permanent revolution of the critical spirit, its management of pluralism, its ever-evolving organization of general welfare, its dissolution of hierarchies of social origin, and its promotion of dignified living conditions for all.

In this extraordinarily wide-ranging and erudite work, Sloterdijk opens up a few bookmarks in the Book of Europe. If Europe too often is a book rarely read by those whom it concerns, Sloterdijk's bookmarks help orient readers – teaching Europeans, from the script that they themselves have written, about where they stand with themselves and about their role within the whole. In Sloterdijk's view, the true Europe can be found wherever creative passions have overtaken those of resentment, and it will survive as long as creativity keeps resentment in check.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Sloterdijk, Peter

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Literaturwissenschaft Literaturtheorie: Poetik und Literaturästhetik
• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Philosophie: Allgemeines, Methoden
• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Kulturphilosophie

Inhaltsverzeichnis

First inaugural address
Excuses, obituaries, aprèsludes

Second inaugural address
Latin Europe:

The continent, the imperium, and its transfers

Lesson one
The grande école of the world:

Europe as a learning context: From the book of enhancements

Lesson two
Out of Revolution:

How a German historian writes Europeans' autobiography

Lesson three
History a priori:

The book of endgames – Spengler's prophecy and how it came to be fulfilled

Lesson four
Dire vrai sur soi-même - Speaking the truth about oneself
The European book of confessions

Lesson five
Go, and set the world aflame!
From the book of expansions

Lesson six
Loose-fish
Of ships, globes, and surplus sons

Lesson seven
Get a-way, you old peoples!
From the book of dissenting voices: Europe in the accusative

Acknowledgements