{{Short description|Swiss writer and philosopher (1944–2023)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=July 2023}} {{Infobox writer | name = Peter Bieri | pseudonym = Pascal Mercier | birth_date = {{birth date|1944|06|23|df=y}} | birth_place = Bern, Switzerland | death_date = {{death date and age|2023|06|27|1944|06|23|df=y}} | death_place = Berlin, Germany | occupation = Writer, philosopher | alma_mater = Heidelberg University }}
'''Peter Bieri''' (23 June 1944 – 27 June 2023), better known by his pseudonym, '''Pascal Mercier''', was a Swiss writer and philosopher.
==Academic background== Bieri studied philosophy, English studies and Indian studies in both London and Heidelberg. He took his doctoral degree in Heidelberg in 1971 after studies with Dieter Henrich and Ernst Tugendhat on the philosophy of time, with reference to the work of J. M. E. McTaggart. After the conferral of his doctorate, Bieri followed an academic career at the University of California, Berkeley, Harvard University, the Institute for Advanced Study, Berlin and the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute. In 1983 he started work at the University of Bielefeld and later he worked as a scientific assistant at the Philosophical Seminar at University of Heidelberg.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.hanser-literaturverlage.de/autor/peter-bieri/|title=Peter Bieri - Autoren - Hanser Literaturverlage|website=www.hanser-literaturverlage.de}}</ref>
Bieri co-founded the research unit for Cognition and Brain studies at the German Research Foundation.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.uni-bielefeld.de/ZiF/|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20060224074032/http://www.uni-bielefeld.de/ZIF/Forschung/Gesamtliste-Veranstaltungen.pdf|url-status=dead|title=ZiF - Center for Interdisciplinary Research - Homepage|archivedate=24 February 2006|website=www.uni-bielefeld.de}}</ref> The focuses of his research were the philosophy of mind, epistemology, and ethics. From 1990 to 1993, he was a professor of the history of philosophy at the University of Marburg; from 1993 he taught philosophy at the Free University of Berlin while holding the chair of analytic philosophy, succeeding his mentor, Ernst Tugendhat.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.geisteswissenschaften.fu-berlin.de/we01/mitarbeiter/bieri/index.html|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090622183151/http://www.geisteswissenschaften.fu-berlin.de/we01/mitarbeiter/bieri/index.html|url-status=dead|title=Prof. Dr. Peter Bieri (*1944) |work=Free University, Philosophy Department|archivedate=22 June 2009}}</ref>
In 2007 he retired early, disillusioned by academic life and condemning what he saw as the rise of managerialism ("Eine Diktatur der Geschäftigkeit") and decline in respect for academic work.<ref>Manfred Papst, ''Peter Bieri alias Pascal Mercier hat genug von der Universität.'' In: ''NZZ am Sonntag'', 27 May 2007 (with quotation from ''Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung'', 23 May 2007)</ref>
== Pseudonym and work as a writer == As a writer, Bieri used the pseudonym Pascal Mercier, made up of the surnames of the two French philosophers Blaise Pascal and Louis-Sébastien Mercier. Martin Halter, in ''Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung'', criticized Bieri's attempt "to dress up the trite man from Bern in a French philosopher's lace jabot"<ref>Martin Halter, ''Die Seele hängt voller Geigen.'' In: ''Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung'', 30 May 2007</ref> as a pretentious mannerism. Peter Bieri published five novels. Writing literature was to him a revelation of the writer's soul through moods: "An atmosphere – that is absolutely the most important thing in a book and it will reveal, like nothing else, the author's soul."<ref>Peter Bieri, ''Wie wollen wir leben?'' 2nd ed., Residenz Verlag, St Pölten 2011, p. 51: "Eine Atmosphäre – sie ist das absolut Wichtigste an einem Buch, und aus ihr spricht wie aus nichts sonst die Seele des Autors."</ref> Reviewers identified “heart, woe and a lot of fate” as “his recipe for success”<ref>Martin Halter, ''Die Seele hängt voller Geigen.'' In: ''Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.'' 30 May 2007: “Herz, Schmerz und viel Schicksal”, “sein Erfolgsrezept”. Similarly Joseph Hanimann, ''Mit dieser Geige findet sie den Tod.'' In: ''Süddeutsche Zeitung.'' 16 July 2007: “painting emotion in a way that borders on kitsch” (“an Kitsch grenzende Gefühlsbeschreibung”), and Volker Weidermann, ''Professor Kitsch.'' In: ''Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.'' 10 May 2007.</ref> which Bieri, aiming at “wellness literature”,<ref>Eberhard Falcke, {{Cite web |url= https://www.deutschlandfunk.de/abgeschmackte-stimmungsmacherei-100.html |title= Abgeschmackte Stimmungsmacherei |date= 10 June 2007 }} Retrieved 12 October 2024. In: ''Deutschlandfunk'' </ref> applied in each of his books with little variation.<ref>Jens Jessen, ''Monumentale Biederkeit.'' In: ''DIE ZEIT.'' 12 March 2020.</ref>
== Death == Bieri died on 27 June 2023 in Berlin, at the age of 79.<ref>[https://www.tvsvizzera.it/tvs/%C3%A8-morto-lo-scrittore-peter-bieri--alias-pascal-mercier/48639648 È morto lo scrittore Peter Bieri, alias Pascal Mercier] {{in lang|it}}</ref>
== Awards and recognition == * Lichtenberg Medal 2006 * Marie-Luise-Kaschnitz Prize 2006 * Honorary Doctorate University of Lucerne 2010<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.unilu.ch/en/faculties/faculty-of-humanities-and-social-sciences/about-the-faculty/honorary-doctorates/|title=Honorary Doctorates - University of Lucerne|website=www.unilu.ch|access-date=3 June 2019}}</ref>
==Works==
=== Philosophical works === * Peter Bieri: ''Das Handwerk der Freiheit''. Hanser, Munich 2001.<ref>This is a popular science book on the topic of 'free will'. Marcus von Schmiede claims that Bieri does a good job in making the discussions surrounding determinism accessible to a wider audience; cf. von Schmiede's review of the book in ''Die Zeit'' (Hamburg, Germany), 13 December 2001.</ref> {{ISBN|978-3-446-20070-8}} * Peter Bieri: ''Eine Art zu Leben''. Hanser, 2013. {{ISBN|978-3-446-24349-1}} A full list of his philosophical works may be found on Wikipedia's German pages.
=== Novels === * Pascal Mercier: ''Perlmanns Schweigen'', English ''Perlmann's Silence''. Albrecht Knaus, Munich 1995. {{ISBN|3-442-72135-0}} * Pascal Mercier: ''Der Klavierstimmer''. Albrecht Knaus, Munich 1998. {{ISBN|3-442-72654-9}} * Pascal Mercier: ''Nachtzug nach Lissabon'', English ''Night Train to Lisbon''. Hanser, Munich 2004. {{ISBN|3-446-20555-1}}, English {{ISBN|978-0-8021-4397-6}} * Pascal Mercier: ''Lea'' (Novelle). Hanser, Munich 2007. {{ISBN|978-3-446-20915-2}}, English {{ISBN|978-1-8488-7341-4}} * Pascal Mercier: ''Das Gewicht der Worte''. Hanser, Munich 2020. {{ISBN|978-3-446-26569-1}}
== References == <references/>
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Bieri, Peter}} Category:1944 births Category:2023 deaths Category:Swiss philosophers Category:Analytic philosophers Category:20th-century pseudonymous writers Category:21st-century pseudonymous writers Category:Swiss male novelists Category:Heidelberg University alumni Category:Academic staff of Marburg University Category:Academic staff of the Free University of Berlin Category:Members of the Göttingen Academy of Sciences and Humanities Category:Writers from Bern