Lichtgedanken 04

Rubrik 58 Not a problem of luxury Jena philosopher Lambert Wiesing is researching an unusual topic: luxury. But this luxury doesn't refer to opulence and pomposity. Rather, Wiesing sees luxury as an escape from the drive towards efficiency and expediency, and thus as an expression of direct humanity. This portrait presents this year’s winner of the Thuringia Research Award. The office of Lambert Wiesing has a rather functional appea­ rance. There is no extravagant seating area, no expensive pens, no embellishments—on the contrary: the shelves contain file folders and the desk is noticeably tidy. Colourful watercolours and a framed sculpture—works by artist Silke Rehberg, who has been married to Wiesing for over 20 years—are the only things adorning the walls. The front cover of a comic, which they published together in 2016, is stuck above his computer. Whether the owner of the office considers these images to be a luxury is not clear. »I am often asked about my own personal luxuries, but I have never answered the question«, says Lambert Wiesing laugh- ing, as he sits back in his desk chair and briefly crosses his arms above his head. This refusal is somewhat surprising for a philosopher, who spends his time at work searching for and providing answers. Over the last four to five years, Wiesing has conducted in-depth research into the topic of luxury; has published a much-praised book through the Suhrkamp Verlag publishers; and was recently awarded the Thuringia Research Award for his work. He has discussed the topic a lot with col- leagues, readers and journalists in recent times. Even though it has become routine, he hasn’t lost his interest in exchanging interesting ideas. It is only for this highly personal question that he concocts a nothing answer: »I always say that I love old, leather-bound folio books.« It may sound like a clear line is being drawn; but in actual fact there is nothing more than a thin membrane between the sci- entist and his area of research. Wiesing is a phenomenologist. Put simply, he investigates how people perceive things, which experiences they have and how they create a world from these experiences. He is always an object of his own research. »Phenomenology begins from personal experience, to find the necessary structures within the observed phenomena«, he ex- plains. This means, each phenomenological realization always represents a small act of self-disclosure from the philosopher. Against the drive towards expediency— luxury as an internal experience The trigger for choosing to study luxury came from an im- mediate experience. Five years ago, Wiesing conducted re- search as a guest professor at the University of Oxford, and, whilst there, observed a fascinating parallel between luxury and education: »The two are only available to people who deny the pursuit of efficiency and expediency«, he says. After grappling with this thought for a long time, he realised that philosophy had barely touched upon the subject of luxury as a phenomenon to date. For a philosopher, this is like winning the lottery—it is very rare to find areas that have not already been studied in detail. The lack of research in this topic is particularly surprising, as luxury is so very present in society. However, it is often based on an error: »Luxury is often equated with showing off—in other words, displaying wealth to win prestige«, ex- plains Wiesing. »Yet, in actual fact, it has nothing to do with self-expression. Luxury is a deeply internal experience that humans can express in highly individual ways.« While one person might consider an expensive sports car to be a luxury; someone else sees it as trying a special cheese. Although there are different numbers on the price tag, shoppers can enjoy the same aesthetic experience with both—an experience that cannot be seen from the outside: both are owning and using something that detracts from expediency; both are thus refu­ BY SEBASTIAN HOLLSTEIN Portrait