Icon: enlarge
Susan Neiman, 2017
Photo:
Wolfgang Borrs / NDR / picture alliance / dpa
The book fair is a place of discourse.
This year we have to let it take place virtually.
Instead of a conversation at the trade fair stand, intellectuals and writers have agreed to provide information in a SPIEGEL questionnaire.
The first was the author Annie Ernaux, then the political scientist Herfried Münkler, Philippe Lançon, survivor of the terrorist attack on "Charlie Hebdo", the writer Jagoda Marinić and the intellectual Daniel Mendelsohn answered.
To person
Born in Atlanta in 1955, the philosopher tries to combine classical morality with contemporary political analysis.
She has headed the Einstein Forum in Potsdam since 2000.
The renovation and reopening of the Einstein summer house in Caputh also fell during her term of office.
Her current book is "Learning from the Germans. How societies can deal with the evil in their history"
What is your current state of mind?
Radical insecurity.
And how do you feel about the state of your nation? And the world?
My frame of mind pretty much reflects the state of the world.
Corona, climate change, social inequality, digitization - where do you see the greatest threat to a humane society?
Social inequality and climate change are the greatest threats.
Liberté, égalité, fraternité - which of the three terms of the French Revolution needs a revival?
What we miss most is fraternity - this can be seen both in the inequality and in the increase in identity movements to the right and left.
And how would you do it?
In the face of the climate crisis as well as the pandemic, we need to recognize that we are all vulnerable, despite all differences - and that we will all perish if we don't work together.
Of course, this includes not just intellectual insight, but real changes in economic systems.
What problem are you thinking about right now?
How can one restore the much-despised universalism?
What was the last book that occupied you?
I had to name two books.
One of them is older, "The Twilight of Common Dreams" by the American sociologist Todd Gitlin.
It is an excellent analysis of the tendency of the left to deal with symbolic questions of identity rather than systemic problems.
Unfortunately, his diagnosis is still accurate today.
The second book is the novel "Tyll" by Daniel Kehlmann, which is an excellent illustration of what Europe looked like before the Enlightenment.
I can only hope that the Enlightenment critics were paying attention.
Is the pandemic conveying any message?
The universal vulnerability and connectedness of people
Is there a belief that you have remained true to since your youth?
Anyone who has read my answers so far will not be surprised that I have been loyal to universalism since my youth.
That means rejecting racism in any form and appreciating the similarities between people more than the differences.
Series replace novels, podcasts replace newspapers - would you agree?
Not at all.
Although I enjoy certain series and podcasts, I still read novels and newspapers - and so do my kids.
What should the media report more about?
Good news.
We really need examples that give us hope.
In the German media these are often devalued as kitsch, but they are vital.
How has Corona affected your everyday life?
How did it
not
affect
my everyday life
?
A book of mine was published in German a few days before the lockdown - all reading trips have been canceled.
A lot could take place on Zoom, but a whole series of trips and conversations, at home and abroad, was and still is missing.
My institute, the Einstein Forum, also had to go online, which seriously affects the way we work.
We are now opening again, but with very limited restrictions.
It is impressive how the scientific and literary establishments continue to function in one way or another, but it is certainly not what one can normally look forward to.
Nevertheless, I am of course one of those privileged people who can work at home.
Nevertheless, the impossibility of planning your life is a challenge.
It's not an easy year. Was there a particularly beautiful, private moment and would you describe it?
It's not particularly private, but I was thrilled to see the enthusiasm for the
Black Lives Matter
movement - especially that so many white citizens, in the US and in Europe, got involved.
Do you know a favorite line or a spell that will help you get through these times?
Not a magic spell, but an argument from Kant: If we hope that humanity is capable of moral progress, we can contribute to it.
If we give up hope, all is lost.
So we have a duty to keep hope alive.
(The other day, Noam Chomsky made the same argument with different words.)
What gives you courage
Just the thought that resignation and cynicism encourage the right.
Icon: The mirror