French Philosopher Research Articles

PHILOSOPHY OF DEATH IN MAURICE BLANCHOT

Maurice Blanchot is a 20th century French philosopher who was one of the few philosophers who started to write on death. Death has a special role in Maurice Blanchot’s philosophy, he understands death from two points of view: existential death and death as a metaphor, which is mainly investigated among side the process of creation and literature. The aim of this work is to present philosophy of Death in Maurice Blanchot’s philosophy. The presentation aims to present that death is understood from two points of view in his thinking. First, death is understood as the existential drive for living and creation; secondly death is also understood as a metaphor in the process of creativity, in this sense, death plays a crucial role in Blanchot’s thinking. The article also aims to explain such Blanchotian concepts as death’s space, death’s transmutation and two kinds of death. Death’s space is understood as a creative space of creation in which the representations and information is converted in the process of creation. Death’s transmutation is the process of transmuting certain material (whether its painting or words) into the new form. While two kinds of death refer to two types of death: the first is the death that persons can comprehend, while the second is the death that is experienced unexpectedly. Lastly, the work also aims to talk about the relationship between death and literature as death becomes an existential and creative force that sparks novelty.

Democratic education as a matter of civility: retrieving Arendt’s institutionalism via Balibar

ABSTRACT In this paper, my aim is to reintroduce and reclaim the concept of civility for the ongoing debates on democratic education within the Arendt-inspired philosophy of education. I juxtapose a prominent interpretation related to theories of radical democracy and radical democratic education, referring to Gert Biesta’s work, which amends Arendt’s ideas with insights from Jacques Rancière. Conversely, I explore an alternative construction of what can be considered ‘an Arendtian perspective on democratic education’ coming from another French philosopher, Étienne Balibar. Within this perspective the role of institutions is redeemed, and the primary concern shifts from the political agency of individuals to the conditions that allow the space of politics to be constituted and preserved. The discussion includes an analysis of Marius von Mayenburg’s play ‘Martyr’ to illustrate importance of thinking about education, especially democratic education, as a matter of civility.

Le mythe de la Pennsylvanie, l’Histoire des deux Indes et les Recherches sur les États-Unis de Filippo Mazzei

The “Myth of Pennsylvania,” an overly idealized representation of Pennsylvania, its founder William Penn, and the Quakers, was embraced by many 18th-century French philosophes. It appears in Voltaire’s Philosophical Letters (1734), Diderot and d’Alembert’s Encyclopédie (1751-65), and most prominently in Raynal’s influential History of the East and West Indies (1780). According to the myth, Penn’s colony offered an image of the Golden Age and a model of good government. William Penn was portrayed as a great legislator who established a popular representative government and gave laws that guaranteed civil liberties, maintained equality and ensured religious tolerance. As for the Quakers, their morals and customs were deemed to revive the virtues of early Christians. However, around the time of the American Revolution, many liberal intellectuals on both sides of the Atlantic responded critically to such idealistic distortions of American reality, no matter how well intended. Filippo Mazzei, a naturalized American citizen from Italy who played an important role in the War of Independence, is a good case in point. In the third of his four-volume Researches on the United States (1788), Mazzei develops an extended refutation of Raynal’s version of the myth of Pennsylvania. Penn is now depicted as a greedy, sly opportunist who mostly looked after his own interests and those of his family. Similarly, the Quakers are criticized for having always deftly advanced their own political and commercial interests, and for not having clearly supported the Revolution. Mazzei—and his friends Jefferson and Condorcet, who collaborated with him on the Researches in Paris—could only feel irritated by the propagation of utopian myths or fanciful notions about America when the goal of the Revolution was to establish a large modern republic founded upon human rights and a complex legal and constitutional apparatus. Refuting the myth of Pennsylvania meant also discrediting the outdated ideals of the philosopher king and the primitive virtuous utopia.

The study of mental disorders in visually impaired people

The purpose of this review is to highlight the history of the study of mental characteristics in persons with eye pathology and visual impairment. In the period of the Ancient World and up to the XIV century, the knowledge of the human psyche passed through the prism of mystical and religious views on the essence of the human soul. The beginning of the application of the materialistic approach to the assessment of mental characteristics in the absence of vision can be considered the work of the French writer, philosopher and educator Denis Diderot. In his "Letters" he drew attention to the need to educate the blind, which became the impetus for the activities of future specialists. In the middle of the XIX century, active work began in the field of research on the psyche of the blind. The introspective description served as the basis for the beginning of the experimental study. There is a spontaneous release of typhlopsychology, which formed the theoretical basis for the further development of science. During the 20th century, a large amount of experimental data has been accumulated in the field of studying the psyche of the blind. Modern multicenter studies of the psychological characteristics of ophthalmic patients indicate a wide prevalence of mental disorders. Scientists are currently paying close attention to specific ophthalmological nosologies and their relationship with certain mental disorders. Research is being conducted to study potential ophthalmological markers for the development of mental disorders and to find ways to diagnose them instrumentally. Despite the long and difficult path of studying the characteristics of the psyche in visually impaired people, there is still a vast field for further research. Based on past knowledge, future developments will allow us to more accurately determine the relationship between eye pathology and mental disorders.

Рецепция идей Блеза Паскаля в философии Льва Шестова

L.I. Shestov and B. Pascal are extremely popular both in our country and in the West. The philosophical ideas of Shestov and Pascal often overlap despite the different epochs of the thinkers' lives. However, the philosophical ideas of Shestov and Pascal often overlap despite the fact that they lived in different eras. Shestov felt this connection only in the late period of his work, which was undoubtedly associated with the Pascalian renaissance in European thought. However, Shestov still managed to say his word about the life and thought of the French philosopher. The article provides brief information about the period of Shestov's life, when he began to seriously study the philosophy of Pascal. In addition, information is provided about the response in the Russian and French intellectual public that Shestov’s short work on Pascal “The Night of Gethsemane” received. The author's main attention is focused on the analysis of the views expressed by Shestov in his works about the French thinker. Based on the results of the study, it was established that in spiritual experience Pascal can be called the philosophical double of Shestov. In the experiment of Pascal, Shestov was primarily interested in the experience of the abyss, which was so close to the Russian thinker. However, other important aspects of Pascal’s philosophy: his concept of «the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob», and not «the God of philosophers and scientists»; the French thinker's interest in the individual, etc., were also extremely interesting to Shestov. Thus, many of B. Pascal’s philosophical and religious ideas were developed in the works of Shestov.

Research on Camus' Philosophy of Rebellion

The thoughts of the famous French writer and philosopher Albert Camus are profound. His literary works, imbued with his philosophical ideas, are embodied in characters like Meursault from "The Stranger" and Sisyphus pushing the rock uphill. Camus seeks the meaning of life through the "rebellion" against the absurd, which is fundamental to his philosophical significance. Camus' philosophy of rebellion is influenced by Christian existentialism and Nietzsche's "superman philosophy," among other thoughts. "Absurdity" is the target of Camus' philosophy of rebellion; it is omnipresent and unavoidable. People should acknowledge the "absurd." Camus' philosophy does not aim to prove the absurdity of the world through philosophical speculation but rather to address how one should respond after recognizing the absurd. Evaluations of Camus should consider the century-long debate between Camus and Sartre, Sartre's criticism of Camus, and the subsequent scholarly "rehabilitation" of Camus. These discussions highlight the uniqueness and influence of Camus' philosophy and provide us with valuable insights.

Becoming-woman: Deconstructing Adolescent Stereotypes through McManus’ Bildungsroman One of Us Is Lying

Karen M. McManus’ novel One of Us is Lying is a carefully crafted teenage Bildungsroman that brings together a group of stereotyped adolescents and blenders them with intense triggers such as murder, homosexuality, budding romance, relationship gaslighting, and second-generation immigration. These experiences catalyze their painful yet inevitable breaking free from the stereotypes. This essay examines how McManus’ novel resonates with French philosopher Gilles Deleuze’s concept of “becoming-woman.” The concept refers to a dynamic process of transformation and deterritorialization, where individuals move away from fixed identities and categories. It involves breaking down rigid structures and embracing fluidity and change. Although the term explicitly refers to gender, its implications extend beyond gender, challenging fixed identities and hierarchical structures related to race, class, sexuality, and more. The concept fosters a more fluid and open-ended approach to understanding identity and subjectivity among adolescents.

Listening to Blackberries

This poem is in part a response to the work of Dylan Robinson, and a continuation of a career-long meditation on blackberries. The poem is also part of an ongoing exploration of plant mobility and the gardening ideas of French philosopher Gilles Clément and his concept of the garden in motion.

"Olympic Hope": Fucoldian interpretations

The study of literary works devoted to running makes it possible to determine their plot dominant as a conflict between the feeling of freedom generated by running and such properties of professional sports as fierce competition of competitive activities and authoritarian regulation of the training process. Sociocultural tensions of this kind were fruitfully conceptualized in the works of Michel Foucault using the concepts of bio-power as a unity of anatomical and biopolitics; disciplinary practices as methods of normalization of bodies; supervision and panopticism as means of control, as well as technologies of self and subjectivation aimed at dampening the effects of excessive domination. The article uses the fantastic sports novel by Danish writer Knud Lundberg "Olympic Hope: The Story that Happened at the 1996 Olympic Games" published in 1955 and not translated into Russian as an object of application of the Fucoldian means of analyzing the above conflict situation. The research methodology is based on a conceptual analysis of M. Foucault's theoretical legacy and the reception of the French philosopher's ideas by Russian and Western scientists. The study revealed that the novel presents four variants of bio-power: German (genetic eugenics), American (hormonal eugenics), Soviet (crippling practices) and Danish (based on the free development of natural predisposition), used to organize the birth and training of top-level runners. The disciplinary practices of runner training are most pronounced in totalitarian states. The methods of their implementation are specialized closed training spaces; strict daily routine; daily monotonous running exercises; constant differentiation of athletes by rating; exams in the form of competitions; medical experiments. The realization of the technologies of selfhood and subjectivation by runners is carried out in the forms of resistance and transgression. K. Lundberg associates his Olympic hopes in sports running not with cruel professionals who are ready to give up their health (the problem of doping) and even their lives for the sake of personal awards and increasing the prestige of their states, but with educated means of humanistic sports by amateur athletes, for whom running has existential significance as a way of holistic, bodily and spiritual self-realization in the ethically loaded sphere of freedom.

Descombes as a possibility to interpret the artistic event in Alain Badiou

T he study interprets Alain Badiou’s philosophy using Vincent Descombes’ Le même et l’autre (The Same and the Other). We believe that placing Badiou in the context of French philosophy of the 20th century can show him in a new light. Descombes’ book forms an interpretive framework from which the philosophies of Friedrich Nietzsche and G. W. F. Hegel emerge. We perceive Badiou as an author who connects two phases of French philosophy (postulated by Descombes): the period of the three H’s (Hegel, Husserl, Heidegger) and the period of (post)structuralism (Nietzsche, Freud, Marx). T he study will try to show connections, but also differences, between these concrete philosophies. The goal, in the meantime, is to shed light on Badiou, who can still be described as an (sufficiently) author who isn’t reflected, through the philosophy of authors who have already been reflected. We will move into the center of Badiou’s thinking through his inaesthetics.

Reflections on Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction: Warhol and Baudrillard in Dialogue

At the beginning of the 20th century, the Industrial Revolution promoted the invention and application of modern mechanical products. The rapid development of productivity led to a speedy improvement in the material standard of living and a surplus of material goods, but the problem of "depersonalisation" arose as individuals gradually lost their sense of satisfaction and individuality in the same mechanised work. The Pop artist Andy Warhol reflected on this era of mechanisation through the reproduction and imitation of forms, initiating his discourse and reflection on the industrial age. A century later, French philosopher Jean Baudrillard put forward the concept of "Simulacra", pointing out that in the information technology and consumer society, the media, such as television, advertisements and the Internet, create a large number of virtual images and information, blurring the boundaries between the reality and the fiction, so that people gradually lose their sense of authenticity and personality in the "Simulacra". This paper will analyse the roots of Warhol's ideological evolution from the individual to the times through the understanding of Warhol's self-description as well as the social activities and values of the time, and use Baudrillard's "Simulacra" and "Surrealism" to explain why Pop Art has transgenerational significance and the exploration of public values it opens up.

Ibn Khaldun and Auguste Comte: A Comparative Analysis of the Founding Figures of Sociology

This paper presents a comparative analysis of the contributions of Ibn Khaldun, a 14th-century Arab scholar, and Auguste Comte, a 19th-century French philosopher, to the development of sociology. While Auguste Comte is widely acknowledged in the Western tradition as the “father of sociology,” Ibn Khaldun’s seminal work, “Muqaddimah”, place the Preliminary work for a systematic approach to social and historical analysis several centuries before Comte. Ibn Khaldun’s pioneering ideas on social cohesion, economic foundations, and the cyclical nature of civilizations challenge the conventional Eurocentric narrative that places the origins of sociological thought exclusively within Western intellectual history. This paper examines the methodologies, theories, and socio-historical contexts that shaped the works of both thinkers. Ibn Khaldun’s empirical observations and his concept of “asabiyyah” (social cohesion) are compared with Comte’s positivist approach and his “Law of Three Stages,” which posits the evolution of human thought from theological to metaphysical to positive. Despite the differences in their approaches, both scholars were deeply engaged with the fundamental processes governing social life and the forces driving social change. This study argues for a broader recognition of Ibn Khaldun’s role in the evolution of sociological thought, positioning him not merely as a precursor but as a co-founder of sociology alongside Comte. By doing so, it contributes to a more inclusive understanding of the global intellectual traditions that have shaped the discipline of sociology.

O mestre em Rousseau: Autoridade e sedução

This article is the result of a bibliographic research in the works of the French philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau with the objective of analyzing the categories authority and seduction as constituents of the figure of the master. From the hypothesis that man, in the state of nature, was endowed with an essentially good soul and the belief that the abandonment of this original state to live in society is responsible for the state of moral degradation in which humanity finds itself, he attributes to education the function of protecting man from the evils to which he is susceptible when living in society. In this process, the formative importance of the relationship between master and disciple assumes centrality, since it requires a pedagogical pact in which the strength of the figure of the master consists precisely in his firm subtlety, whose capacity to lead his disciples is so masterfully ordered, that it makes itself felt as an enchanting freedom of thought and choice.

Serres’s Philosophy of Media

Contemporary French philosopher Michel Serres has out-of-the-rut thoughts about many things, including media. This article focuses on his understanding of the genealogy of media, the notion of exo-Darwinism, and his forward-looking attitude toward new technologies. An alternative, counterintuitive take on human nature is revealed as the discussion proceeds. This article also touches upon what is irreplaceable about humans in an age when artificial intelligence is rapidly evolving.

Baudrillard's Critical Theory of Political Economy

Baudrillard is a famous French postmodern philosopher with a vast array of theories and writings. Based on Baudrillard's reflection on Marx's critique of political economy, the article takes the social and ideological origins of the theory of mimesis as the starting point of the study. Unlike Marx, Baudrillard's theory of mimesis involves a 'model' that appears as the initial form of the mimesis. Baudrillard's argument that the proliferation of mimesis and simulation has led to the demise of the real, and that the real world can be produced through modelling without the need for prototypes, adds a new dimension to reflections on Marx's critical theory of society, and expands the horizons and methodologies of contemporary Marxist research. The paper traces the premise and development of the theory of mimesis by analysing the turn towards consumer society, and presents the specifics of mimesis theory as a whole by keeping in mind Baudrillard's principle of symbolic exchange and his reflections on modern technology. This paper analyses the concept of mimesis based on Baudrillard's later theories, and attempts to explain the specific connotations of mimesis and its related concepts. This paper focuses on three related concepts of mimesis: "mimesis", "hyperreal" and "implosion", and explains in detail the differences between these four concepts on the basis of Baudrillard's work. Based on Baudrillard's work, the differences between these four concepts are explained in detail. Explores the symbolic order, social entities, and media influences in which the concept of "mimesis" occurs.

Aтеология и критика религии в философии Мишеля Онфре

The article examines the atheological concept of “the most popular French philosopher” Michel Onfray, as well as his criticism of religion. Onfray borrows the term “atheology” from G. Bataille, which he understands as a current of thought that deconstructs theological truths. The philosopher identifies three original tasks of atheology: the deconstruction of monotheism, the demythologization of Judeo-Christianity and Islam, and the deconstruction of theocracy. He implements all these three tasks in one way or another. The article demonstrates that Onfray’s concept of atheology does not represent something radically new or significantly different from the existing tradition of religion critique. Onfray limits himself to the three monotheisms that have the greatest political influence and resolutely condemns almost all aspects of the three religions. We note that in doing so, Onfray simplifies the image of religion, presenting it exclusively in a negative light. Such negativism brings Onfray closer not only to contemporary new atheists, especially C. Hitchens, who believes that “religion poisons everything”, but also to such representatives of French materialism as Holbach and La Mettrie. Onfray’s approach seems abstract because it does not provide a thorough socio-historical explanation of monotheistic religions. It is shown that his criticism of religion is based on a significant philosophical tradition that goes from Democritus, Lucretius, Epicurus, to Freud, Marx, and Nie­tzsche, and includes French materialists such as Holbach, La Mettrie, Helvetius. His hedonism is more likely to be drawn from the Cyrenaics than from Epicurus. The originality of Onfray’s approach lies in the fact that he incorporates materialism and hedonism into his concept of “philosophy of nature”. Onfray’s positive agenda, although resonant with a number of contemporary issues, is formulated in extremely general terms and is poorly worked out

A Plea for (In)Human-centred AI

In this article, we use the account of the “inhuman” that is developed in the work of the French philosopher Jean-François Lyotard to develop a critique of human-centred AI. We argue that Lyotard’s philosophy not only provides resources for a negative critique of human-centred AI discourse, but also contains inspiration for a more constructive account of how the discourse around human-centred AI can take a broader view of the human that includes key dimensions of Lyotard’s inhuman, namely performativity, vulnerability, and novelty. We link these dimensions to questions of epistemic injustice and social recognition. In this way, we hope to develop a proposal for what a richer and more meaningful understanding of human-centred AI might look like.

Freedom, Creativity, the Self, and God: Between Rabbi Kook and Bergson’s Lebensphilosophie

AbstractIn this essay, I examine the intersection between the concepts of freedom, the self, God, and creativity in the works of one of the most prominent twentieth-century Jewish thinkers, Rabbi Abraham Isaac HaCohen Kook (1865–1935), exploring his use of these concepts through the lens of the Lebensphilosophie of the French philosopher Henri Bergson (1859–1941). I first draw a historical and thematic parallel between Bergson’s and Kook’s philosophies that to date has not been considered extensively. I then argue that five different interpretative puzzles related to the topic of freedom in Kook’s teachings can be explained against the background of Bergson’s thought. This Bergsonian interpretation enables the reader to appreciate in what way different aspects of Kook’s thought—the metaphysical, ethical, epistemological, and theological—are interconnected and can be understood as an organic whole. I thereby show that the Bergsonian philosophical and systematic models are an important, and yet unexplored, interpretative tool for the study of Kook’s theological and philosophical thought.

Материалистическая философия Мишеля Онфре

The article examines the atheological concept of “the most popular French philosopher” Michel Onfray, as well as his criticism of religion. Onfray borrows the term “atheology” from G. Bataille, which he understands as a current of thought that deconstructs theological truths. The philosopher identifies three original tasks of atheology: the deconstruction of monotheism, the demythologization of Judeo-Christianity and Islam, and the deconstruction of theocracy. He implements all these three tasks in one way or another. The article demonstrates that Onfray’s concept of atheology does not represent something radically new or significantly different from the existing tradition of religion critique. Onfray limits himself to the three monotheisms that have the greatest political influence and resolutely condemns almost all aspects of the three religions. We note that in doing so, Onfray simplifies the image of religion, presenting it exclusively in a negative light. Such negativism brings Onfray closer not only to contemporary new atheists, especially C. Hitchens, who believes that “religion poisons everything”, but also to such representatives of French materialism as Holbach and La Mettrie. Onfray’s approach seems abstract because it does not provide a thorough socio-historical explanation of monotheistic religions. It is shown that his criticism of religion is based on a significant philosophical tradition that goes from Democritus, Lucretius, Epicurus, to Freud, Marx, and Nietzsche, and includes French materialists such as Holbach, La Mettrie, Helvetius. His hedonism is more likely to be drawn from the Cyrenaics than from Epicurus. The originality of Onfray’s approach lies in the fact that he incorporates materialism and hedonism into his concept of “philosophy of nature”. Onfray’s positive agenda, although resonant with a number of contemporary issues, is formulated in extremely general terms and is poorly worked out.

Analyzing Tensions in 2Pac’s Music: An Application of Marcel Griaule’s Four Levels of the Word

Tupac’s life has been frequently selected as a fertile text for scholarly examination; however scant attention has been given to systematically examining the underlying tensions that exist between Tupac’s publicly self-pronounced afrocentric orientation and his often misogynistic and countercultural musical lyrics. While the songs highlighted in this essay are not an exhaustive list of Tupac’s music discography, the selection of songs represents a sampling of Tupac’s music that reflects a dueling tension between Black cultural consciousness and misogyny. We will introduce an Afrocentric framework developed by French philosopher Marcel Griaule. This paradigm permits a rhetorical analysis of his lyrics by examining “four degrees of the word.”