French Philosopher Research Articles

The (Im)Possibility of Anti-Systemic Politics: Uprisings, Exilic Spaces, and Alain Badiou

The world-system is in crisis, and a flurry of uprisings challenge the mantra that 'there is no alternative' to capitalism. However, some questions remain. What will replace the global capitalist mode of production, and how will those aspiring to transform the system do so? These questions are of relevance to three separate but related domains of research: (1) the study of anti-systemic movements by world-systems analysts; (2) the study of exilic spaces by scholars using an anarchist perspective; and (3) the work of French Philosopher Alain Badiou. This article stages a discussion between these three areas, locating areas in each tradition that can benefit from engagement with each other's work. It pays special attention to ways in which social scientific analyses of anti-capitalist and anti-State uprisings can expand their explanatory scope and answer some important theoretical questions, by incorporating key insights derived from Badiou's framework on politics, uprisings, and universality. Likewise, it shows how Badiouian literature might enrich and expand its conceptualization of these issues by engaging with world-systemic and anarchist literatures on the political, cultural, and intellectual aspects of strategizing for social change.

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.

Interpretations of the existentialist ideas of Albert Camus in the film adaptations of the novel «The Plague»

The article presents an analysis of screen interpretations of the ideas of one of the most important representatives of existentialism, the French philosopher and writer Albert Camus, set out in his novel «The Plague» (1947). The situation of recent years, associated with a number of catastrophic events on a global scale, has actualized the ideas of philosophical existentialism. Using the example of several films embodying the ideas of A. Camus's novel «The Plague», the article shows the possibilities of their interpretation.

Czy czasopisma konserwatywne Gazeta Polska i Najwyższy Czas! pogłębiają rasistowskie schematy myślenia? Kryzys migracyjny na granicy polsko-białoruskiej w świetle teorii Étienne’a Balibara

The aim of the research was to determine whether Polish conservative opinion magazines (Gazeta Polska and Najwyższy Czas!) may be responsible for the deepening of racist patterns of thinking. The research context included the issue of migration from the countries of the Middle East and Africa based on the example of events on the Polish‑Belarusian border. The main research method was content analysis, including discourse analysis (media framework). The research sample consisted of a total of 109 texts (GP 86 and NC 23). In formulating the research theses, the theory of the French philosopher Étienne Balibar was used, especially considerations regarding racism and the concept of border. The research results gave a positive answer to the main research problem. The comparative analysis showed similarities between both magazines in terms of the rhetoric used towards migrants (anti-immigrant narrative, the “us-them” division, linguistic treatments that are part of the exclusion strategy), as well as the multiplicity of the border topos, which is understood as: the external border of the territory of Poland, the zoopolitical border and the mental border. The element that differentiated the examined magazines was the political context – GP supported PiS policy and used the conflict to deepen internal polarization, while NC criticized the United Right government’s actions.

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.”

Female Individuality and Social Conventions of the Enlightenment in the Correspondence between Valentin Jamеrai-Duval and Anastasia Sokolova

This article examines the interpretation of the theme of the manifestation of female individuality in mid-eighteenth-century Russia on the basis of the correspondence (1762–1774) between Valentin Jamerai-Duval, a French philosopher and autodidact in the Austrian service, and Anastasia Sokolova, a lady-in-waiting to Empress Catherine II, married to De Ribas. At the beginning of the correspondence, Jamerai-Duval’s interest in Russia, like that of many Europeans, is based on inaccurate book sources and common stereotypes. Their conceptual motifs are “barbarism”, ignorance and violence, both in the family and in society. The dialogue between the two correspondents gradually overcomes these stereotypes. They discuss a wide range of issues related to the expression of the female personality: choice of spouse and celibacy, love and sensual pleasure in marriage; criteria of attractiveness (physical and mental beauty), following fashion and individual style, etc. Special attention is paid in the correspondence to the questions of women’s education and intellectual development, in which reading plays an important role. The Russian-Turkish war of 1768–1774 reactivated the issue of violence against women, this time as a need to protect them from the despotism of the infidels in the Ottoman Empire. Ignorance and religious prejudice in the environment of the Old Believers are also seen by the correspondents as a manifestation of tyranny over women’s personality.

Reproducing the normal and the pathological in personalized cancer medicine clinical trials

AbstractThe medical practice termed Personalized Medicine ideally uses all the patient’s possible characteristics in predicting disease predisposition and response to therapy, but primarily employs the individual’s unique molecular make-up in the tailoring of treatment. This change in medical practice also entails an epistemic shift towards ‘molecularization’: individuals and disease are now understood and governed through life’s basic building blocks. In this paper we argue that underlying personalized medicine is a continued understanding of the pathological state as a quantitative deviation from a normal state. In this we build on the critique of French philosopher Georges Canguilhem who positioned the quantitative interpretation of the pathological in nineteenth century medical thinking. Personalized cancer medicine takes each patient’s cancer as singular, implying that there is no ‘normal’ baseline for comparing individual pathology. We analyze cases of personalized cancer clinical trials from recent years to show that each displays a quantitative understanding of the pathological reminiscent of past thinking in two main modes: a molecularized interpretation of cancer pathology and a quantitative measuring of targeted therapy efficacy. We situate the analysis in broader discussions of historical medical shifts and in current studies of personalized medicine, to outline implications of this form of continuity.

Perbuatan sebagai Masalah Filsafat dan Implikasinya bagi Kemungkinan Wahyu Adikodrati: Perspektif Filsafat Agama Maurice Blondel

For the first time “action” was raised by Maurice Blondel, a contemporary French philosopher, as a philosophical problem. With actions carried out with “knowing” and “wanting” (actus humanus), so desired actions, the human will can move from limited reality to the Divine as unlimited reality. For Blondel, two types of will are used, volonte voulante (the willing will) and volonte voulue (the willed will). Volonte voulue is a type of human action whose object is empirical goods, because it is always possible to achieve them. Meanwhile volonte volulante is a type of action whose object concerns metaempirical reality and is therefore difficult and even impossible to achieve by the effort of the human will. This object can only be achieved by humans thanks to the actions of the Divine Himself, namely through God's own Revelation which comes to humans. Blondel's contribution to contemporary religious philosophy lies here, namely that he can rationally account for the faith of religious people that believers are made possible by the natural capacity in humans, namely the dynamism of the will to lead him to the possibility of supernatural revelation. However, philosophy here only provides a “possibility” not “certainty”. Meanwhile, “certainty” regarding the existence of special revelation (divine revelation based on the Holy Scriptures) remains a matter of theology as a matter of certainty of faith.

Emile Durkheim’s social research in the context of human rights activism

This article provides an analysis of the fundamental categories of Emile Durkheim’s theory within the framework of his methodology for social research and the phenomenon of human rights activism. It examines categories such as “social fact”, “solidarity”, “collective consciousness”, and “anomie” in the context of human rights activities. A distinctive feature of the article is its interdisciplinary approach, integrating sociological research results into the field of jurisprudence. The article explores a range of works by the French sociologist and philosopher Emile Durkheim, as well as relevant works by other philosophers, along with the contribution of contemporary Russian legal scholars within the aforementioned context. Given the growing demand for works on human rights issues in both Russian and global legal science, the authors conclude that a comprehensive understanding of the nature of individual rights and legal violations facilitates their more effective, profound, and systematic protection, not only in a reactionary sense, but also by enabling a preventive function in human rights activism. In this regard, the acquired sociological and legal knowledge seems pertinent, sought after, and can be utilized in subsequent doctrinal developments.

Equality as Enactment: An Institutional Approach

The point of departure for this paper is Anne Phillips’ concept of equality as enactment. I identify two interpretations hereof. The first emphasizes immediate enactment but neglects the role of mediating institutions. This, I contend, severely limits its political effectiveness. The second highlights the importance of such institutions in sustaining and continually enacting equality among citizens. To illustrate the pitfalls of stressing an unmediated enactment, the study analyses the experiences from the post-war evolution of Sweden’s educational system. Subsequently, I expound the political-theoretical implications of the empirical findings and propose a more institutionally cohesive understanding of equality as enactment. I do this by engaging in a close dialogue with the French philosopher Marcel Gauchet and Hannah Arendt, one of Anne Phillips’ foremost sources of inspiration, particularly Arendts’s perspectives on education’s role in modern society and its correlation with the concept of the world.

Imaginal Practices in Dialogue:

Jungian psychology considers image to be the basis of psyche, and its principal technique is active imagination. While the importance of image is appreciated in Jungian circles, it is not shared outside the field, where the imagination is generally seen as “not real.” The unreality of the imagination contradicts the assertion of French philosopher Corbin who insisted that the imaginal realm is not only real but also a crucial bridge between the spirit and material realms, whose split has been diagnosed as the root cause of many modern problems. The reality of the imaginal provides the ontological foundation to place Jung’s active imagination in dialogue with the imaginal practice of self-generation from the Tibetan school of Tantric Buddhism, highlighting key tensions between the approaches. By applying the principle of Jung’s transcendent function, it seeks a third path from that tension, providing modern psychological and spiritual adepts with insight to cultivate the power of the imaginal realm in their own lives.

Defining the Aristocrat: From Geneva to Revolutionary France

In the political and social language of the early modern period, aristocracy did not denote a social class, but a form of state or government. At the dawn of the revolutionary age, however, the concept of aristocracy suddenly moved to the centre of disputes over the new political and social order in European states—and with it the previously unknown figure of the aristocrat. This article traces the conceptual history of aristocracy and aristocrats between about 1760 and 1789. It argues that the rise of these revolutionary battle terms was largely rooted in the constitutional struggles of the small Geneva Republic, which were widely observed and commented throughout Europe. Protagonists such as the Geneva opposition leaders and writers François d’Ivernois and Étienne Clavière, and the French philosophers and politicians Jacques-Pierre Brissot and Honoré Gabriel de Riqueti, Comte de Mirabeau, were involved in translating these concepts from the political language of republicanism into the context of the French monarchy, where members of the nobility were now denounced as aristocrats in the run-up to the Estates General. The outbreak of the French Revolution and its perception throughout Europe ultimately shaped the meanings of the concepts of aristocracy and aristocrat in the modern world.

Эмиль Бутру. Моральное учение Канта и современность

This article precedes the publication of the Russian translation of the work by Emile Boutroux, a famous French spiritualist philosopher, epistemologist and historian of philosophy, “Kant’s Morals and Modernity”. The interpretation of Kant’s teachings proposed by Boutroux is considered. Based on some of Kant’s ideas and criticizing others, Boutroux sought to update meta - physics through reflection on science and scientific knowledge. Noting aspects of his concept that gave reason to attribute it to French neo-Kantianism, the author of the article also highlights significant points that are determined by Boutroux’s own philosophical position and do not allow him to be considered a faithful follower of the Königsberg thinker: the denial of dualism and the necessary nature of scientific knowledge.