Pierre Zaoui, philosopher. “We used to work in our garage for ourselves and our friends without calling ourselves cabinetmakers and selling our products.”

It’s about being one and many at the same time.Slashers (a phrase based on the keyboard slash name) are becoming more and more popular, inventing twists and turns in the modern story of ambition or simply ways to cope when the complexity of the world gets in the way professionally. project away. Because monotonous career time in the same company is a model that is now (almost) a thing of the past, and many employees benefit during their lifetime gleaning from a skills assessment and one or more training Do slashers (which represented 26% of employees in 2022) make a lasting impact on their workplace philosophy?We went to interview Pierre Zaoui. who is not an economist or a sociologist of work, but a philosopher, a lecturer at the University of Paris Temporary beauties, sorry for the soap bubbles (Ed. du Seuil) and his book Spinoza, The Determination of the Self just released in Pocket (Ed. Points) It gives us the keys to understanding what “slasher” means and what unexpected perspectives the verb can open up.

Madame Figaro. – Slashing is presented as the perfect lifestyle for those who don’t want to choose between making a living and a career of passion… Is it?
Pierre Zaoui. – It’s a very modern fantasy, having two jobs at the same time. But the real news is doing it voluntarily. Because hoarding different jobs when the wages are too low is as old as capitalism. Anyway, I understand the need to wear many hats. it’s the famous businessman’s blues. “I’d like to be an artist.” Slashing theoretically allows us to explore our plurality, to resolve the internal conflict that arises from the question, “Have I made the right choice?” This goes back to the fundamental principle developed by Spinoza: all determination is in denial. Joseph Schumpeter liked to say that he had three goals in life: to be the world’s best lover, the world’s best horseman, and he also said that he did only two of the three.

Doesn’t the use of rupture stem from the frustration of not having the grace to be omnipresent?A bit like the fear of letting go.FOMO:) it prompts us to be overly attached.
Yes, I think there is something of an omnipotence fantasy there. A desire to be atopic, to become almost quantum objects. You connect with modern tools and the fear of letting go. In my opinion, liberalism pushes us to make fantasy come true. It is basically a positive thing, to realize yourself in several ways. But it was something that offered time outside of work, recreation, dreaming. We were making sheet metal for ourselves and our friends without calling ourselves cabinet makers. To monetize this hobby, in my opinion, is a shame We can use the free, free time to focus on something other than the market, right?

We are collectively losing this enormous joy by wasting our time, making all our time profitable.

Pierre Zaouy, Philosopher

In Temporary beauties, sorry soap bubbles, You praise lightness… Isn’t that what this bet offers, this joy of multiplying itself?
Yes, in my opinion, we are living the end of a very tolerable lightness of existence. We collectively lose this great joy of wasting our time, making all our time profitable. “Do nothing, what a gold mine.” It is important for everyone’s balance not to burden themselves. The Stoics considered thisin oti And negotiations (free time and work, editor’s note) worked together and should have remained very different… Today, if we are not careful, idleness can be consumed by work.