encyclopedia of modern french thought

747 Pages·2003·5.09 MB·English

by  Christopher John Murray(edt)

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Board of Advisors Professor Fredric Jameson
Department of Romance Studies Duke University
Dr. Kay Chadwick
DepartmentofFrenchUniversityofLiverpool(UK) Professor Anthony Levi
Department of French (emeritus) University of
Ms. Olive Classe
St. Andrews (UK)
Independent Scholar
Professor Eric Matthews
Professor Simon Critchley
Department of Philosophy University of Aberdeen
Department of Philosophy University of Essex (UK)
Dr. Jonathan Re´e
Dr. Simon Glendinning Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies
Department of Philosophy University of Reading Middlesex University (UK)
(UK)
Professor Max Silverman
Professor Gary Gutting Department of French University of Leeds (UK)
DepartmentofPhilosophyUniversityofNotreDame
Professor Susan R. Suleiman
Dr. Christina Howells Department of Comparative Literature Harvard
Department of French Oxford University (UK) University
En c y c l o p e d i a o f
n c y c l o p e d i a o f
M o d e r n F r e n c h T h o u g h t
M o d e r n F r e n c h T h o u g h t
Christopher John Murray, Editor
Fitzroy Dearborn
An Imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group
New York London
Publishedin2004by
FitzroyDearborn
AnimprintoftheTaylor&FrancisGroup
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PublishedinGreatBritainby
FitzroyDearborn
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Copyright2004byTaylor&FrancisBooks,Inc.
FitzroyDearbornisanimprintoftheTaylor&FrancisGroup
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2005.
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Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthisbookmaybereprintedorreproducedorutilizedinanyform
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FirstpublishedintheUSAandUK2004
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
EncyclopediaofmodernFrenchthought/ChristopherJohnMurray,editor.
p.cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN1-57958-384-9(alk.paper)
1.France—Intellectuallife—20thcentury—Encyclopedias.2.
France—Civilization—20thcentury—Encyclopedias. I.Murray,
ChristopherJohn.
II.Title.
DC33.7.E552004
944.081′03—dc22
2003014408
C
ONTENTS
Preface vii
Alphabetical List of Entries xi
Thematic List of Entries xv
Chronology xix
Entries A to Z 1
Notes on Contributors 657
Index 663

P : E M F T
REFACE NCYCLOPEDIA OF ODERN RENCH HOUGHT
French thought has had a profound impact on modern intellectual and cultural life,
notablyintheUnitedStates.Itisaninfluencethathasbeenkeenlyfeltin(amongother
fields) philosophy, linguistics, political and social thought, cultural studies, history,
psychoanalysis,literarytheoryandcriticism,anthropology,thephilosophyofscience
and technology, media studies, and in the theory and practice of the arts. Moreover,
inrecentdecadesFrenchthinkershaveplayedtheleadingroleinattemptingtocharac-
terize those profound changes in our intellectual, cultural, and moral life that have
been labeled the “post-modern condition.”
Though it is not possible to consider all the defining characteristics of modern
Frenchthought–therangeofdisciplinesandthemesisfartoowide–thereareseveral
featuresthat,thoughnotuniversal,illustratetheuniquesignificanceofFrenchthinkers.
The first is their response to German thinkers: Kant certainly, but also, and with
dramaticimpact,Hegel,Marx,Freud,Dilthey,Durkheim,Husserl,Jaspers,Heidegger,
and–especiallyduringthesecondhalfofthecentury,whenfaithin”’bigtheorie”’gave
waytoaradicalskepticism – Nietzsche.Manyofthemostoriginalinterpretationsof
these major thinkers, interpretations that have in turn been influential in the United
States, Britain, and elsewhere, are the work of French intellectuals.
A second and related feature is the key role played by French thinkers in the
radicalreappraisalofmanyofthecentralassumptions,concepts,andvaluesofWestern
thought, notably those inherited from the Enlightenment. These include such closely
related themesas theauthority ofreason – the degreeto which itis limitingor even,
as an agent of the dominant ideology, repressive; the unstable nature of the self – a
questioningoftheCartesiancogito,thethinkingselfasautonomousandfoundational;
the pervasive and inescapable role of language in determining our understanding of
ourselves and the world, and in determining the limits of thought; and the status of
“grand narratives” such as religion, science, or Marxism in a postmodern world that
is increasingly complex, skeptical, and pluralistic. During a century when traditional
social,moral,andreligiousbeliefshavebeenlostorgreatlyweakened,Frenchthinkers
have explored, among other things, the ethical implications of living in a world that
seems to have no meaning or purpose; they have closely scrutinized the changing
nature of political power and analyzed the individual’s potential for resistance; and,
largely through feminist, gay, and lesbian thinkers, they have helped to redefine our
understanding of gender and sexuality.
AnotherimportantfeatureistheresponsivenessofFrenchintellectualstotheforces
shaping the modern world. In part at least, modern French thought can be seen as a
series of reflections on the major events of national and international history – on
two world wars, on the rise of Fascism and Communism in the interwar years, on
colonial struggles for independence, on the postwar rise and fall of revolutionary
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Preface: Encyclopedia of Modern French Thought
Marxism, on the plight of minorities, on the social unrest reflected in the protests of
May 1968, and on the spread of global capitalism. This responsiveness to events is
alsoseeninawillingnesstoengagedirectlyinsocialandpoliticalaction,acharacteris-
tic role of French intellectuals since eighteenth century that was given fresh impetus
bytheDreyfusaffair.Bothright-wingandleft-wingintellectualshaveformedaction
groups, written for journals and newspapers, literally taken to the streets, and more
recentlyusedtelevisioninordertoinfluenceopiniononsuchissuesassocialinjustice
andthemisuseofpower;race,colonialism,andimmigration;theneedforrevolution
and the desire for stability; sexual politics; religious fundamentalism; the role of the
mass media; and environmental issues.
French thinkers have also played a key role in French, and therefore Western,
culture.Itisdifficultfullytoappreciatetwentieth-centuryFrenchartandarchitecture,
fiction, poetry and drama, music, cinema and photography without an understanding
of Frenchideas. Oftenthis is notsimply a questionof theinevitable influence ofthe
prevailing intellectual trends: artists and writers have often consciously concerned
themselveswithexploringideasthroughtheirart – thenovelistFranc¸oisMauriacwas
typical(inthis,atleast)whenhedescribedhimselfas“unme´taphysicienquitravaille
dans le concret.” Moreover, French thinkers have themselves done likewise – the
mostcelebratedexampleisSartre,whowrotenovels,plays,biography,criticism,and
autobiography as an important complement to his formal philosophical works – and
theyhavealsoshownakeeninterestintheartsintermsoftheirowndisciplinessuch
as sociology, anthropology, political science, semiotics, and philosophy.
TheEncyclopediaofModernFrenchThoughtisintendedtoprovideawide-ranging
guide to the wealth of ideas represented by these and other features, its scope being
twentieth-century thought across disciplines. It will be of particular interest to those
who study modern French life, ideas, and culture; but also, given the international
significanceofmanyFrenchthinkers,tothoseinterestedinmodernthoughtingeneral.
Itdoesnotincludescience,thoughitdoesincludethephilosophyofscience.Novel-
ists, dramatists, and poets are included only when they have made a contribution to
debate through their essays, and have played a particularly important role in French
intellectual life (for example, Breton, Gide).
By“French”thinkersismeantthosewhohaveengageinFrenchintellectualdebates
inFrench.Thisincludesthosebornandperhapseducatedelsewhere:examplesinclude
KristevaandTodorov(Bulgaria),Greimas(Lithuania),PouletandIrigaray(Belgium),
Starobinski(Switzerland).Italsoincludesfrancophoneintellectualsfromformercolo-
nies. This is not an unthinking form of cultural neo-colonialism. Many francophone
writers have engaged in French intellectual debates and often in France itself, and
mostreceivedaFrencheducation.Moreover,theentrieswereselectedandwrittenin
thefullknowledgethatsuchwriterswere(orare)strivingtofashiontheirownunique
intellectual,historical,cultural,andpoliticalidentity,aprocessthatinvolvesasystem-
aticresistancetoassimilation.Bycontrast,becauseoftheirverydifferentintellectual,
educational and colonial history, French-Canadian thinkers are not included.
Some 150 diverse scholars have shared their expertise to create the 234 entries in
this Encyclopedia of Modern French Thought. The selection of entries, which range
from 1,000 to 5,000 words, is based on a desire to balance range of subjects with
depth of treatment. Most are on individuals, but there are also entries that provide a
different and complementary focus bylooking at specific disciplines (Anthropology,
Classics, Linguistics...); at influential theories, belief, and methodologies (Catholi-
cism,Feminism,Phenomenology...);andatanumberofkeythemesandsubjectsthat
drawtogetherseveraldisciplines(Anti-humanism,Sexuality,Language...).Thereare
also entries that provide the historical, social and political background to intellectual
life(Colonialism,Journals,HistoricalSurveys...).Athematictableofcontentsdelin-
eating these can be found on page XXX.
Because some recent French writers are notorious for the difficulty of their style,
which is usuallya way of trying to avoideasy assimilation in the dominantforms of
viii
Preface: Encyclopedia of Modern French Thought
understanding,contributorswereaskedtopaycloseattentiontoclarityofexposition.
This is not an attempt, however, to reduce complex, challenging, and far-reaching
theoriestosimple,predigestedsummaries;concernsaboutthesubtlepowerofdomi-
nant ideologies, and also about the limits of the sayable, are important. The aim,
rather, as with any such project, is to encourage both student and lay reader to turn
to the works in question and engage directly with their authors’ ideas and strategies.
Given the close relationship between intellectual developments and both cultural
and social factors, we have provided the reader with a Chronology that provides a
detailed timeline of works and events in several categories: ideas, literature, music,
art and architecture, film, and political/social life. As a guide to the many writers,
works, and subjects in the book, there is (as noted above) a Thematic Table of
Contents, and also a comprehensive, analytical Index at the end of the book. The
entries on individuals contain a Biography at the end of each article, thus focusing
theentryitselfonthatperson’sideasandtheirimpactonFrenchthought.Theentries
include See Also to identify key links and interrelationships and Selected Writings
and Further Readings, which are bibliographies to guide readers through the ever-
growing wealth of literature.
Acknowledgements
I’d like to thank the advisors and contributors for their advice, encouragement, and
hard work. I’d also like to thank Gordon Lee of Fitzroy Dearborn for launching the
project soefficiently, andKate Akerof Routledgefor guidingit soskillfully toport.
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