The Impure Sacred and Pure Reason: Symptoms of Contemporary Culture

Like smoking, a lot of things that were fashionable only a few years ago are now seen as dirty, unhealthy and annoying in today’s culture. In the past, practices like these were placed above culture by making them ‘saintly’. Now reason is making a stand against these ‘saintly’ activities, reason that regards itself as ‘pure’ – and wants to take the magic out of the world.

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  • Publisher: FISCHER Taschenbuch
  • Release: 01.10.2008
  • ISBN: 978-3-596-17729-5
  • 334 Pages
  • Author: Robert Pfaller
Buchcover von The Impure Sacred and Pure Reason: Symptoms of Contemporary Culture: Symptome der Gegenwartskultur
Robert Pfaller The Impure Sacred and Pure Reason: Symptoms of Contemporary Culture
Portrait von Robert Pfaller
© Peter Rigaud
Robert Pfaller

Robert Pfaller, born in 1962, studied philosophy in Vienna and Berlin and, after guest professorships in Chicago, Berlin, Zurich and Strasbourg, is now a professor of philosophy at the University of Art and Design Linz. From 2009 to 2014, he was a professor of philosophy at the University of Applied Arts Vienna. His books published by Fischer include "Das schmutzige Heilige und die reine Vernunft. Symptome der Gegenwartskultur" (2008), the highly acclaimed study "Wofür es sich zu leben lohnt. Elemente materialistischer Philosophie" (2011), "Zweite Welten. Und andere Lebenselixire" (2012) as well as “Kurze Sätze über gutes Leben” (2015). After "Erwachsenensprache. Über ihr Verschwinden aus Politik und Kultur" (2017), "Die blitzenden Waffen. Über die Macht der Form" was published in 2020. He was awarded the Paul Watzlawick Ring of Honour in 2020.