French Philosopher Research Articles

What Makes a True Human with the Development of Technology: Subjectivity in Klara and the Sun under the Perspective of Levinas’ Ethics of Responsibility

Set in a future where genetic technology and artificial intelligence are highly advanced, Kazuo Ishiguro’s 2021 work Klara and the Sun is a novel that draws on the relationship between humans and artificial intelligence to consider human nature. Not coincidentally, the modern French philosopher Levinas argues that human nature, or subjectivity, is about being responsible for the Other. This paper applies Levinas's ethics of responsibility to analyse the human nature in Klara and the Sun, and finds that as the artificial intelligence, Klara is born to be responsible for human beings. In the meantime, Josie's weak face makes it impossible for Klara to neglect it, so she can only dedicate herself continuously until she sacrifices herself to achieve “substitution”. In the process of taking Josie's place to bear suffering, Klara continues to devote herself, and ultimately truly realizes her own subjectivity. In the course of taking responsibility for Josie, Klara is also helped by Rickk and Josie’s father, thus becoming a beneficiary of the human nature of “taking responsibility for others”. Levinas's extreme vision of the nature of human beings is highly compatible with Kazuo Ishiguro's construction of a perfect society, which is a revelation for the human society in the midst of technological advancement.

Religion Against Violence: Insights of Contemporary Philosophy and Eastern Patristics

This article examines the concepts of violence and religion as social phenomena of modernity. Religion and the church are presented not as specific organizations or denominations, but as important social institutions and are reflected in philosophical and anthropological terms. I carry out the idea that religion as a modern social institute in cooperation with other social communities can resist violence, especially its aggressive forms. Based on some philosophical theories, the causes of the emergence of the different forms of social violence, as well as definitions of violence, are explored. In this context, the article presents the ideas of Hanna Arendt, Carl von Clausewitz, Bertrand de Jouvenel, James Mill, and Max Weber. Special attention is paid to the conception of the mimetic origin of aggression and violence in “primitive” or “archaic religions” elaborated by the French philosopher René Girard. He compares the social roots of aggression and violence in these religions with the Biblical ones and prefers the latter for their potential in preventing and overcoming the imitation types of violence. Girard’s anthropological justification of the mentioned historical religious traditions is presented. A significant part of the paper is devoted to the views of the Eastern Church Fathers of Early Christianity, considered in the concurrence of their humanistic ideas with those of noted contemporary philosophers. I see meaningful ideas for preventing extreme forms of violence and aggression in the contemporary world in the doctrines of the Early Eastern and Byzantine Fathers, especially those of the classical patristic period. In this regard, this article presents the anthropological and humanistic teachings of Athanasius the Great, Gregory of Nazianzus, Maximus the Confessor, and John of Damascus. The Early Church Fathers’ ideas are analyzed from a philosophical point of view, as having rational and anthropological grounds which are relevant for the present day’s human existence.

Creation as divine absence: A metaphysical reframing of the problem of evil

Abstract The philosophical ‘problem of evil’ goes back at least as far as Epicurus and has remained a powerful argument against the existence of God in contemporary philosophy. The argument is rooted in apparent contradictions between God’s divine attributes and various conditions of human existence. But these contradictions arise only given certain assumptions of what we should expect both God and the world to be like given God’s existence. In this article, I argue that we can utilise the work of the twentieth-century French philosopher Simone Weil to craft a coherent metaphysical picture of God, creation, and suffering that rejects these common assumptions. Further, I contend that this picture very plausibly follows from commonly accepted tenets of traditional monotheism. Given this, I argue that this Weil-inspired framework provides serious reasons for reframing the problem of evil and its corresponding theodicies by presenting a radically different view of how God must relate to creation. Yet, this picture does not necessarily vindicate the theist. I argue that this picture may leave us with a new question about creation in the face of evil. Namely, is it possible to understand God’s initial creative act as Weil describes it – as an act of love?

Remembering Droughts and Abundance: Ecological Memory in the Semi-arid Region of Northeast Brazil

In Floresta, a municipality in the semi-arid region of Northeast Brazil, the past is considered a time of greater regularity of the climate, natural wealth of the Caatinga biome, and solidarity among the residents of the city’s rural area. Memories of certain historical events can refer to an ‘ancient time’ in which ‘abundance,’ despite the calamities generated by droughts throughout the occupation of this territory, is considered one of its main socio- ecological attributes. In the context of the violent climatic transformations of contemporaneity, analyzing the actions of the memory of old inhabitants of the Brazilian semi-arid region will be a way of first, ethnographically questioning the history of droughts to which the entire ecology of this region has been reduced by historiography and national literature; second, inquiring the human centrality of modern memory—still today a defining theoretical paradigm of social and cultural studies of memory in anthropology. To this end, memories of droughts and abundance will be articulated with the concept of “duration” (la durée) of French philosopher Henri Bergson to think of memory and the duration of time as a way of ecologically living the past, the present, and the future.

The Intangible Gaze of Surveillance and Material Marks of Oppression in Valentyn Odnoviun’s Photography

Summary The article analyses the series of photographs “Surveillance” (2016–2018) and “Architecture of Evidence” (2021) by the Ukrainian artist Valentyn Odnoviun who lives and works in Lithuania. The analysis is mainly based on the concepts of surveillance and control developed by French philosophers Michel Foucault and Gilles Deleuze. With the reference to this theoretical background the article states that Odnoviun exposes the materiality of the gaze of surveillance in various historical periods. This in turn can be interpreted not only as the documentation of the hard evidence of the crimes against humanity, but also as a symbolic resistance against control and oppression.

Paul Ricœur y el mal como drama de la libertad: libre albedrío versus siervo-arbitrio

The evil constituted one of the problems that most stung the thought of the French philosopher Paul Ricœur, so this article tries to account for the depth of this reflection in light of a also theological topic: the idea of original sin and its relationship with human freedom. In approaching this analysis, it is intended to account for the fruitful dialogue that Ricœur established with theology from philosophy to problematize the question of free will and its counterpart: the servant-will. The thematization of these questions is framed within the Philosophy of the Will. The voluntary and the involuntary and The conflict of interpretations, seeking to relax the complicated relationships between religion and philosophy.

Losses and support in the grieving process –– pastoral and media context

The loss of a close person is accompanied by various emotional, cognitive, behavioural, physical, spiritual and social reactions. The process of grieving therefore has an impact not only on the course of grief, bereavement itself, and the perception of losses, but also on the human being generally. In accordance with experts, grieving after a loved one who died of the virus that causes COVID-19 is specific. In most cases, it is characterized by a lack of personal contact with a seriously ill person due to infection and quarantine measures during hospitalization, and later a characteristic ban on personal farewells or touching due to the potential threat of infection. In addition, this specifics is accompanied by reflections on how the infection occurred in the first place, or anger at the lost person for not being careful enough, or anger at the health system that provided help to the sick loved one. The paper takes into account the aforementioned as a starting point for the presentation of grief and bereavement, which also takes place in the space of social media during the pandemic. The article seeks to contribute to the overall concept of pastoral bereavement support and contemporary digital support for grief and bereavement. It can be achieved by presenting the possibilities of online support for mourners in the context of the French philosopher Vladimir Jankélévitch's (1977) relational model of death. Rabatel and eventually Floréa referred to this issue and started the research on the announcement of death in the media. The goal of such studies was to show that the conventional media focuses on the death of distant people that "doesn’t concern us" (i.e., "third person death"), whereas new technologies give the opportunity and space to talk about the death of close people (i.e., "second person death") as well as one's own death (i.e., "first person death"). The text presents the online space as a place where pastoral care and accompanying the mourners or grieving men is not only possible but also beneficial.

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.

The Cartesian background: England and France

Abstract The 17th and 18th century opposition between Cartesian and Newtonian science is often depicted as a contest between a priorism and speculation on one hand, and observation and mathematical proof on the other, one of which won out. This is a simplification. In 17th century England Cartesian natural philosophy, including the vortex theory of the planetary orbits, was (intentionally) easy to understand. It was seen however as poorly disguised atheism and widely disparaged on that account by influential theologians. Amongst the 18th century French philosophes, this aspect of Cartesianism was hardly a problem. Newtonianism now denoted an appetite for exciting experimental demonstrations as against the dead letter of scientific books, including not only René Descartes’s Principles but also Isaac Newton’s (for most readers) largely impenetrable Principia.

Solar sacrifice: Bataille and Poplavsky on friendship

ABSTRACT This article reconstructs the forgotten friendship between Georges Bataille and the Russian émigré poet and philosopher Boris Poplavsky. Comparing their solar metaphysics, I focus on conceptions of friendship, sacrifice and depersonalisation. First, I retrace Bataille’s relationship to early Surrealis and Russian circles in interwar Paris, with a focus on his friendship with Irina Odoevtseva. I then offer a novel reading of Poplavsky’s poetry through the lens of Bataille’s philosophy, analysing a recurring motif that I call ‘dark solarity’. Uncovering a hidden intertextual dialogue between Poplavsky and Bataille, I argue for Poplavsky’s lasting impact on Bataille’s anti-Icarian sun cult. Finally, my paper demonstrates how Poplavsky’s writings on solar sacrifice, excess and friendship left marks on Bataille’s vision of a solar community, embodied in the secret society Acéphale. The dialogue between Poplavsky and Bataille, I finally suggest, is a missing piece in the entangled history of Russian and French philosophy, as well as an original contribution to discourses on friendship in twentieth-century continental thought.

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.