Peter Bieri better known by his pseudonym, Pascal Mercier, is a Swiss writer and philosopher.

Academic background

Bieri studied philosophy, English studies and Indian studies in both London and Heidelberg. From there he was awarded a doctoral degree by Dieter Henrich

Dieter Henrich

Dieter Henrich is a German philosopher. A contemporary thinker in the tradition of German Idealism, Henrich is particularly known for the influence of Kant, Hegel and Fichte in his work.-Life:...

 and Ernst Tugendhat

Ernst Tugendhat

Ernst Tugendhat is a Czech-born German philosopher. He was born in Brno, Czechoslovakia, to a wealthy Jewish family that commissioned Mies van der Rohe with the Villa Tugendhat in Brno. In 1938 the family emigrated from Czechoslovakia to St...

 for his work on the philosophy of time. After the conferral of his doctorate, Bieri worked as a scientific assistant at the Philosophical Seminar at University of Heidelberg.

Bieri co-founded the research unit "Cognition and Brain" at the German Research Foundation. The focuses of his research were the philosophy of mind

Philosophy of mind

Philosophy of mind is a branch of philosophy that studies the nature of the mind, mental events, mental functions, mental properties, consciousness and their relationship to the physical body, particularly the brain. The mind-body problem, i.e...

, epistemology, and ethics

Ethics

Ethics, also known as moral philosophy, is a branch of philosophy that addresses questions about morality—that is, concepts such as good and evil, right and wrong, virtue and vice, justice and crime, etc.Major branches of ethics include:...

. From 1990 through 1993, he was a professor of the history of philosophy

History of philosophy

The history of philosophy is the study of philosophical ideas and concepts through time. Issues specifically related to history of philosophy might include : How can changes in philosophy be accounted for historically? What drives the development of thought in its historical context? To what...

 at the University of Marburg; from 1993 he taught philosophy at the Free University of Berlin

Free University of Berlin

Freie Universität Berlin is one of the leading and most prestigious research universities in Germany and continental Europe. It distinguishes itself through its modern and international character. It is the largest of the four universities in Berlin. Research at the university is focused on the...

 while holding the chair of analytic philosophy

Analytic philosophy

Analytic philosophy is a generic term for a style of philosophy that came to dominate English-speaking countries in the 20th century...

, succeeding his mentor, Ernst Tugendhat.

Works

• Pascal Mercier: Perlmanns Schweigen. Albrecht Knaus, Munich 1995. ISBN 3-442-72135-0
• Pascal Mercier: Der Klavierstimmer. Albrecht Knaus, Munich 1998. ISBN 3-442-72654-9
• Peter Bieri: Das Handwerk der Freiheit. Hanser, Munich 2001. ISBN 978-3-446-20070-8
• Pascal Mercier: Nachtzug nach Lissabon, English Night Train to Lisbon
  Night Train to Lisbon
  Night Train to Lisbon is a philosophical novel by Pascal Mercier originally published in German in 2004 and published in English in 2008. The novel is an international best seller. The story follows the travels of Swiss Classics Professor Raimund Gregorius, known as Mundus, as he explores the life...
  
  . Hanser, Munich 2004. ISBN 3-446-20555-1, English ISBN ISBN 978-0-8021-4397-6
• Pascal Mercier: Lea (Novelle). Hanser, Munich 2007. ISBN 978-3-446-20915-2