French Philosopher Research Articles

Life, Existence, and Culture, or What I Have Learned from Deconstruction

Taking as a starting point a few key passages in the Gospels about the Last Supper and Crucifixion, the author tries to show how the linguistic machinery of a text reveals its deconstructive aspect – making a call for cultural appropriation on the one hand and resisting this appropriation on the other. This duplicity is also projected onto an existential level, reflecting the tension between life as an idiomatic aspect of every human endeavor and culture understood as subjecting to shared experience. The main conceptual impetus of the essay goes against maintaining the sharp distinction between life rejecting an accurate representation and existence with all the reproduction devices it carries with itself. This analysis, referring to a vast corpus of Derrida’s texts, goes beyond a metacommentary limited to French philosophy or literary studies and can also be read as a contribution to a theological interpretation of the Gospels made with the help of deconstructive logic.

Fight, Flight, or Freeze: Stilling the Moving Image in Bruce Nauman’s Contrapposto Studies, i through vii

This article examines the ways in which Bruce Nauman’s art installations provoke audience experiences analogous to those felt during traumatic events. A central assertion of the present study is that the looping mechanisms of Nauman’s video artworks produce a theoretical stilling of the moving image that is reflective of the fight-flight-or-freeze response to a highly charged incident, which often entails a temporal shift as time appears to slow to a halt. Whereas in the past, the human response to acute stress was typically prompted by a physical threat in the natural environment, today an evolutionary misfire occurs when this survival mechanism becomes prompted instead during everyday situations. Throughout human history, the experience of viewing an artwork has developed into an act of aesthetic appreciation involving a search for meaning. However, in this case, the sensory overload triggered by Nauman’s artwork purposefully impedes neuroprocessing, highlighting the adverse effects of mediation saturation in contemporary society; therefore, a stilling of the moving image in essence functions as a biological adaptation strategy in an attempt to come to terms with the puzzling nature of these artworks. By applying French philosopher Roland Barthes’s theories of the image, this article expands Barthes’s thought from the image to the performative as a reflection of human adaptation to technological advancement.

Philosophy of J. Wahl as an independent phenomenon and as an interpretation of Hegel’s philosophy

The article is aimed at comprehending the perception of J. Wahl’s philosophy in Russia. The central role is assigned to the notion of “unhappy consciousness” in Hegel’s “The Phenomenology of Spirit” and to the interpretation of this notion in J. Wahl’s philosophy. The analysis of Russian–language studies dealing with his philosophy allows to outline two primary strands of engagement with it: within the framework of “French Neo–Hegelianism”, and within the framework of existentialism. Th e need to renounce this established characteristic of his philosophy is shown. Two arguments are stated in favour of this, conceptual and substantial. As for the former, the restriction of J. Wahl’s philosophy to the two aforementioned frameworks narrows the real horizons of his research. For the latter, the “unhappy consciousness” in J. Wahl’s philosophy besides the tragic–religious interpretation of Hegel’s ideas also contains pluralistic criticism of Hegel’s “monism” as a part of J. Wahl’s own philosophical project of “metaphysical empiricism”. It is argued that treating the entire corpus of J. Wahl’s writings will allow for a more thorough insight into the history of 20th century French philosophy, in particular “French Neo–Hegelianism” and the Franco-German debates concerning phenomenology and existentialism.

Ancient shamanic emotional healing techniques and today’s philosophical counseling

In shamanic thinking, an important idea is that the earth does not belong to us. Earth is just a wonderful and welcoming host for us and other species. Did the sense of ownership dehumanize us, as the French philosopher Jean Jacques Rousseau would observe? Maybe. Lust for wealth, greed, and selfishness, these traits specific only to human people, among all inhabitants of our planet led, over time, to irreversible planetary changes. Earthquakes, tsunamis, forest fires, and floods: all these disasters seem to be the consequences of human reprehensible acts. Not only the rapid climate changes but also the recent wars and the pandemics have attracted emotional and psychological problems, such as depression, anxiety, or PTSD, a phenomenon that is growing alarmingly worldwide. In these difficulties times I believe the shamanic techniques could work together with philosophical counseling to heal us, opening the way to a peaceful and balanced understanding of our relationship with the Universe and ourselves.

Экзистенциальная личность и специфика философского стиля Жоржа Батая: проблема взаимовлияния

The article examines the features of the existential personality, the ideological origins of creativity and the spe-cifics of the philosophical style of the French thinker J. Bataille. The features of J. Bataille’s paradoxical thinking are shown, the value of which is in the ability to analyze various mental states of a person, in the destruction of standard philosophical structures and the creation of new forms of philosophical understanding of reality. The application of the phenomenological approach made it possible to identify the features of J. Bataille’s literary and philosophical style, the inconsistency and complexity of interpreting his texts addressed to existential expe-rience in the act of tragedy, delusions or the search for truth, inseparable from the transgressive state of a per-son. The authors determined that in J. Bataille’s work, the specifics of language, vocabulary, and the ability to express the hidden meaning remind of the author himself, of his constant desire to invade the realm of the im-possible. The study of the problem of the mutual influence of the existential personality and J. Bataille’s philo-sophical thinking was carried out using a hermeneutic approach. The authors also identified a number of XXth century thinkers, such as M. Foucault, N. Land, J. Derridа, whose works were significantly influenced by Ba-taille’s thinking. The novelty of this study is the disclosure of evaluative judgments of the literary style of the French philosopher by modern authors and specialists in the philosophical work of J. Bataille.

Mathesis Universalis and the Cartesian Unification of Philosophy, Science, and Religion

In this paper we present the manner in which René Descartes discovered the principle of the autonomy of the spirit as a Mathesis Universalis, as a universal science, his perception being much different from the medieval scholastic one, where the intellect corresponded with the sensible reality. Descartes reversed this suitability, considering that the intellect should not be guided by things and build judgments according to them, but, on the contrary, things are analyzed according to the intellect's abilities to give them meanings and sense, to make them intelligible. Firstly, we will demonstrate that, for Descartes, the very existence, the reality of a thing depends on this light of the intellect that unifies all knowledge through Mathesis Universalis. For the French philosopher, order and measure, captured by Mathesis Universalis, become the qualities by which God, the only perfect Being, created the Universe that obeys a coherent mathematical model. Secondly, we will highlight the fact that the starting point of this new metaphysics could be found in Descartes’s view that God cannot be considered deceptive, that the world is not the creation of an evil and cunning Genius. In conclusion, knowledge through Mathesis Universalis leads the spirit to that place where the reasons of universal peace can be founded, whose purpose is to overcome those structures of the imaginary that wing the irrational drives dressed in the clothes of war and death.

The discreet wearing out of bodies and souls at work: Simone Weil on speed, humiliation and slow affliction.

The goals of this paper are twofold. First, the paper seeks to show the relevance of French philosopher Simone Weil’s writings on work for contemporary political and social theory. More specifically, by drawing on Weil’s “factory writings”—i.e. the diary she kept during the many months she spent working in factories, and the essays and letters that followed shortly after—the article shows that Weil’s analysis of speed, humiliation and affliction is highly pertinent for reflecting upon the consequences of the increasingly ubiquitous recourse to digital tracking and monitoring tools by today’s employers. Secondly, the paper proposes to read Weil’s account of degradation and affliction in light of the contemporary scholarship on “slow violence”. Inspired by Rob Nixon’s work, this scholarship is interested in forms of harm that are slow-paced, attritional, ‘out of sight’ and intimately tied to our (distracted) attention regimes. As I argue, Weil very lucidly described the paradox at the heart of many types of modern work: namely, that its fast pace causes the slow death of workers’ souls and bodies. Demonstrating the important resonances of Weil’s account of factory life and contemporary suffering in the era of digital surveillance, the paper underlines the significance of Weil’s account of affliction for understanding the depths of the harms caused by these forms of domination.

ДІАСПОРА ЯК ГЕТЕРОТОПІЯ В РОМАНІ МАЙКЛА ОНДАТЖЕ “У ШКІРІ ЛЕВА”

The present article examines the postcolonial novel “In the Skin of a Lion” written by Michael Ondaatje, one of Canada’s leading contemporary writers. As the marginalized experience of an immigrant had a signifi cant impact on shaping the author’s diasporic identity, Ondaatje, originally from Ceylon and a Canadian citizen, depicts in his novel the immigrant experience and the distinctiveness of the corresponding diasporic space within a linguistic and cultural community. The article underscores that the space, which both refl ects and distorts the real world, can be characterized as a heterotopian one. In multicultural societies, diaspora serves as one such space – an entity that unites individuals bound by their shared ethnic heritage and brings together inhabitants who often fi nd themselves isolated and marginalized. In the novel “In the Skin of a Lion”, the immigrant district is depicted as a space with utopian features. A cornerstone of the analysis lies in the observation of how immigrants navigate and interact with foreign landscapes. The article demonstrates how these individuals utilize the canvas of a foreign country to reimagine and reconstruct familiar environments, a process that both mirrors and refracts their original contexts. Signifi cantly, the diasporic space inhabited by the characters is similar to Foucault’s concept of a heterotopic mirror, a realm without a concrete locus yet integral to shaping the characters’ experiences and perspectives. The methodology of the article relies primarily on the notion of heterotopia by French philosopher Michel Foucault, Homi Bhabha’s explorations and his concept of an intermediate space or the “third” space, and Edward Said’s postcolonial theory as well as other cultural and literary studies pertaining to the diaspora. It is shown that the heterotopian space in M. Ondaatje’s novel is a place for the formation of the diasporic identity of his characters. Ultimately, according to Foucault’s principles of heterotopia, in the novel “In the Skin of a Lion”, the diaspora and the immigrant community’s enclave are portrayed as a rich and transformative heterotopic space. Key words: Michael Ondaatje, “In the Skin of a Lion,” Michel Foucault, heterotopia, space, diasporic identity.

The philosophical sources of tolerance - A Critical review of John Locke’s and François-Marie Arouet’s ideas-

Perhaps the English philosopher John Locke (1632-1704) and the French philosopher François-Marie Arouet (1694-1778) are known for their treatise on tolerance, and their demand for a world without wars and conflicts, especially in Europe which suffered from Religious wars, This is why the demand to establishing the values of tolerance was resulted from a need, and it doesn’t a rooted behavior in European culture and societies. Through this Article, we seek to evaluate the philosophy of tolerance advocated by these two philosophers, and the ideology behind it, because the philosophy of tolerance that they presented didn't reach to a philosophy of tolerance includes all human beings. Rather, their claims were confined to the Western world and their European societies. While the tolerance that we should be defend it won't be fragmented, nor linked to interests, or related to one societies rather than another. Hence our contribution to re-evaluating and evaluating the philosophy of tolerance of these two philosophers, and making it more comprehensive and non-exclusionary. So, What are the gaps that appeared in their project of tolerance? And how we can establishing a humane and comprehensive philosophy of tolerance? To address this research problem, we have employed the historical-analytical Method, Because it fits with the nature of this topic.

The Question of Metaphoricity: French Epistemology in Deconstruction

In his recently published 1975–76 seminar on Life Death (§3), Jacques Derrida offers a severe critique of French epistemologists and philosophers of life. On Derrida’s view, they do not seem to be concerned with the question of the metaphoricity of metaphor but, rather, by taking the epistemological cut between (inadequate) metaphors and (adequate) concepts for granted, they explain the scientific process as a movement of critical rectification of metaphors by concepts. Moreover, they do not engage with Nietzsche seriously. Here I build on this last point to examine the project of accounting for the very condition of the scientific process that Derrida puts forward in ‘White Mythology’ (1971) and Life Death. My reading hypothesis is that this project rests on Derrida’s original interpretation of Nietzsche’s Darwinian-type genesis of thinking, according to which selective reproduction consists in the metaphoricity of metaphor.

Pierre Gassendi: Humanism, Science, and the Birth of Modern Philosophy

Pierre Gassendi: Humanism, Science, and the Birth of Modern Philosophy

Denominare Dio con una terminologia post-ontoteologica. Da Martin Heidegger a Jean-Luc Marion

The approach with which Marion approaches the theology and philosophy of Aquinas at the beginning of her phenomenological journey manifestly bears the imprint of Heidegger’s critique of ontotheology, but also of his personal hostility to conceptual idolatry and “regional” atheism. If in his first writings, Marion criticizes the hermeneutical choices of Thomas Aquinas, later, the French philosopher elaborates a kind of retraction. We thought it necessary to mention a little the moments of Marion’s long journey, to understand in context his retraction regarding the initial perspective, with respect to Thomas’s thought, to indicate a certain convergence between Marion and Thomas Aquinas. In some ways, the first Marion’s perspective is close to Heidegger’s. According to what Marion says, the God of onto-theology appears at the moment in which the metaphysician gives a name to the divine, and then puts the sign of equivalence between the revealed God and the definition of the divine found by the metaphysician himself. This is the case of the moral God in Kant, a God who is referred to as a necessary moral foundation. This prevarication can also be glimpsed in the definition of God as causa sui.

„Orbii care cântă cântece cu poveşti şi minuni” sau despre intertextualitate la Cervantes şi Homer

In this article I deal with some small fragments from the renowned novel Don Quixote by the Spanish writer Miguel de Cervantes. I argue that significant connections can be established with the universe of the Homeric epics and, subsidiarily, with a passage from the writings of the French philosopher Blaise Pascal. These connections represent, by definition, the level of intertextuality, particularly challenging the imagination of those who approach and let themselves be conquered by the universe of the most famous errant knight. Intertextuality is a central concept in the theory of literature, without being limited to this – it is applicable to various other artistic fields: cinematography, music, architecture, sculpture, painting, etc. This concept has been proposed and developed during the second half of the 20th century, through the founding contributions of specialists and thinkers such as Julia Kristeva (1969, 1974), Gérard Genette (1982), or Michael Riffaterre (1971, 1979).

ЕКЗИСТЕНЦІЙНІ МОТИВИ У НАРАТИВАХ УЧАСНИКІВ РОСІЙСЬКО-УКРАЇНСЬКОЇ ВІЙНИ

The need to investigate the peculiarities of existential categories in active and passive participants in the war is determined by the basic postulate of existentialism, in which existence precedes essence. Such a situation requires the use of a specific methodology that does not belong to the philosophical methodological base. The narrative approach is used to study the experience of an individual and his life space. The article is devoted to the analysis of the situation of the Russian-Ukrainian war, worldview reflections of its participants. The main existential categories are considered. The narrative is used as the main research method. In the first place are the categories of absurdity of existence, evil, fear, despair, loneliness, suffering, death. Attention is also paid to the categories of freedom of choice, risk, communication and trauma, responsibility, fatigue, sense, values, and others. Emphasis is placed on the importance of non-material priorities for the existence of war participants. The phenomenon of memory in the conditions of war is analyzed as one of the driving forces for actions. Existential narratives are characterized from the «classical» position of the French philosopher and writer Albert Camus and the «non-classical» position of the psychiatrist and philosopher Viktor Frankl. The choice of thinkers is determined by the need to discover different existential categories and their interpretation in the wartime worldview. The article refers to the interviews and reflections of 2022-2023 Ukrainian soldiers, volunteers, medical instructors, entrepreneurs, journalists, managers, heads of charitable organizations, mostly women. A total of twenty one interviews are analyzed.

Gassendi and the Low Countries: Introduction

Abstract This introduction summarises the nature of the strong intellectual links existing between the French philosopher Pierre Gassendi (1592–1655) and the Low Countries. It retraces the main steps of his trip to the Spanish Low Countries and the Dutch Republic in 1629, and the importance of this trip for the development of his philosophy, as well as the epistolary network with his correspondents from that area, especially in the field of astronomy. Scholars in the Low Countries were receptive to atomistic theories, empiricism, and anti-dogmatism, all of which are central to Gassendi’s philosophy. Gassendi’s philosophy also provided arguments against Descartes’s metaphysics, and helped disseminate Galileo’s mechanics in the Low Countries. Gassendi’s influence in the Low Countries lasted beyond his death, as can be seen in the philosophy of Spinoza and Bayle.

Thinking with Simone de Beauvoir Today

Abstract In the last decade, the importance of Simone de Beauvoir’s contribution to 20th-century French philosophy has been beyond debate. However, it can be tempting to read her contributions as the dated beginnings of feminist philosophy, and to believe that her work is only interesting from the perspective of the history of philosophy. To the contrary, this article claims that contemporary philosophers can and should take Beauvoirian philosophy as a source of fruitful insights on contemporary issues in political and moral philosophy by showing the limited scope of two classic critiques of Beauvoir and by defending the relevance of her work for thinking about female submission and the importance of erotic experience.

Le « conflit » chez Michel de Montaigne

"The “philosophical” style specific to Montaigne’s Essays, totally devoid of demonstration and system, gives the reader the possibility of “essaying” an experience of his own reading, based on the idea that “Words belong half to the speaker, half to the hearer” (III, 13). Following Montaigne’s idea that selfishness is the basis of solidarity between men (the basis of society), we can detect two levels in this political conception: 1) on the one hand, the relationship between the individual subject and his own complex state; 2) on the other hand, the relationship of the individual to otherness. For Montaigne, the first level is a priority and, as his own political experience shows, the individual subject has above all the duty to remain true to himself and to his own temperament. The duty to serve others is secondary, occasional and moderate. To complete the ideas that can constitute a “map” of Montaigne’s political philosophy, we have analyzed – quantitatively and qualitatively – the contexts in which the French philosopher used the word “conflict”. The examples confirm the predominance of the interior level of the individual subject and less of the relationship of the individual to otherness. To be active in the public sphere, the individual needs modesty and moderation in the expression of his opinions, as well as a rational evaluation when he wishes major changes; otherwise, they risk doing more harm than good to others. The individual must struggle internally with the weapons of reason, so as not to give in to irrational desires – such as revenge or carnal desires – which would affect others, which is virtue. An inner balance is necessary, and the others will gain from this. Keywords: Montaigne, Essays, political philosophy, Renaissance, map, conflict, individual, society, political system, selfishness, solidarity, opinion, public life, moderation, otherness, private life, civil war"

Rights and the human condition of non-sovereignty: Rethinking Arendt’s critique of human rights with Rancière and Balibar

If the instance of human rights cannot ensure the protection of the rightless, as Arendt famously claimed, how can the rightless struggle for freedom and equality? In this essay, I attempt to answer this question by reconsidering Arendt’s influential critique of human rights in light of the two polar responses it evoked from contemporary French philosophers Jacques Rancière and Étienne Balibar. Rancière, who objects to Arendt’s delimiting of the political, finds her argument excluding and dangerous. Balibar, on the other hand, believes that it conveys an immense potential for politics to come, as it points to the dialectical political truth of equaliberty. In the following, I show the problematics of Rancière’s ingenious formulation of rights, and the answer Balibar’s original interpretation of Arendt’s thought might suggest in response. I contend that working through Rancière’s critique of Arendt’s argument and Balibar’s affirmation of it not only highlights the merits of her critical account but also points to the fundamental relation between Arendt’s work on rights and her later discussions of the human condition of non-sovereignty and the power of promises. I believe that such a reading can contribute to our interpretation of Arendt, and pave new routes of action for non-citizens (such as refugees, stateless persons and subjects of military occupation), who cannot employ the authorities’ strength for their protection.

Brazilian gay tourists’ hedonistic leisure and pleasure practices

This study aims to determine whether the leisure travel consumption behavior of gay tourists reflects hedonistic tendencies, as seen through the lens of the French philosopher Michel Onfray. The methodology employed in this research is a qualitative-quantitative study, which combines theoretical and empirical investigations grounded in exploratory-descriptive research, incorporating elements of Queer Theory. It provides a concise bibliometric analysis of LGBTQIA+ tourism, drawing from dissertations, proceedings of the ANPTUR Seminar, and articles in the Journal of Homosexuality. The theoretical-philosophical foundation of the study is rooted in the philosophy of hedonism, which connects the pursuit of pleasure with tourism. Empirically, it draws on three sources of data: (1) data published by Community Marketing & Insights from 2012 to 2019; (2) exploratory research carried out during the 22nd LGBTI Pride Parade in São Paulo (2018); and (3) a survey conducted with 1406 gay and bisexual male respondents. The findings revealed distinctions between the Brazilian audience and North American tourists across various dimensions, not aligning with the economic and motivational traits identified by the World Tourism Organization.

Self-Critical Freedoms: White Women, Intersectionality and Excitable Speech (Judith Butler, 1997)

This article considers how those subordinated for their gender and sexual orientation, but privileged for their race and class, may be better allies to people, especially women, of colour. Judith Butler’s Excitable Speech (1997) is a helpful aid. Butler offers us a strategy to think through — albeit by way of supplementary voices such as legal theorist Kimberlé Crenshaw, French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu and philosopher George Yancy — how white women may find an ‘insurrectionary’ form of speech that is both embodied and attentive to how we stand in the pecking order of public sphere expression and exchange. The article considers how white women’s ‘critical freedoms’ have helped shape the discursive preclusions faced by Black women. It analyses the conditions by which white women may assert their freedom of speech without this being to the detriment of women of colour.