Summary
Peter Sloterdijk reinterprets Western metaphysics as a spatial and immunological project, moving beyond temporality to examine the history of being through the lens of shared dwelling. This volume, "Microspherology," focuses on the "bubble" as the discovery of the self, exploring micro-space from the Greek agora to contemporary apartments. Sloterdijk synthesizes spatial theories from Aristotle to Georges Bataille, identifying the question of being as intrinsically linked to aerial architecture and human development.
The book presents a morphology of multipolar dwelling, challenging conventional philosophical concerns by grounding existence in the creation and experience of space. Readers will understand how concepts of the self and the environment are interwoven through the "bubble" metaphor, revealing an understanding of being shaped by spatial relationships and architectural possibilities.
Key concepts
- Bubble — The initial stage of self-discovery and the fundamental unit of shared dwelling.
- Globe — The exploration of world-scale space and its implications.
- Foam — The poetics of plurality and interconnected spatial arrangements.
- Immunological project — A reinterpretation of metaphysics as concerned with boundaries and protection within spatial constructs.
- Aerial technology of architectonics — The role of air and structure in shaping human existence and development.
From the book
Description: "An epic project in both size and purview, Peter Sloterdijk's three-volume, 2,500-page Spheres is the late-twentieth-century bookend to Heidegger's Being and Time. Rejecting the century's predominant philosophical focus on temporality, Sloterdijk, a self-described "student of the air," reinterprets the history of Western metaphysics as an inherently spatial and immunological project, from the discovery of self (bubble) to the exploration of world (globe) to the poetics of plurality (foam). Exploring macro- and micro-space from the Greek agora to the contemporary urban apartment, Sloterdijk is able to synthesize, with immense erudition, the spatial theories of Aristotle, René Descartes, Gaston Bachelard, Walter Benjamin, and Georges Bataille into a morphology of shared, or…
Snippet: "An epic project in both size and purview, Peter Sloterdijk's three-volume, 2,500-page Spheres is the late-twentieth-century bookend to Heidegger's Being and Time.