Sudhir Hazareesingh
- Published in print:
- 1991
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198278702
- eISBN:
- 9780191684241
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198278702.003.0003
- Subject:
- Political Science, Comparative Politics
This chapter examines the condition and situation of the French Communist intellectuals in the wider tradition of political activity in France. Though the French Communist Party (PCF) occupied the ...
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This chapter examines the condition and situation of the French Communist intellectuals in the wider tradition of political activity in France. Though the French Communist Party (PCF) occupied the same terrain as the republican tradition, it was also deep-rooted in Leninist and syndicalist origins, which ensured that the initial political culture of French Communism differed in a number of ways to the core principles and values of republicanism. Thus, the position of intellectuals in the party differed considerably from the republican paradigm. Bourgeois were welcome in the party but they were kept away from the levers of power in the organization, and the party's leadership remained in the hands of working class political activists.Less
This chapter examines the condition and situation of the French Communist intellectuals in the wider tradition of political activity in France. Though the French Communist Party (PCF) occupied the same terrain as the republican tradition, it was also deep-rooted in Leninist and syndicalist origins, which ensured that the initial political culture of French Communism differed in a number of ways to the core principles and values of republicanism. Thus, the position of intellectuals in the party differed considerably from the republican paradigm. Bourgeois were welcome in the party but they were kept away from the levers of power in the organization, and the party's leadership remained in the hands of working class political activists.
Sudhir Hazareesingh
- Published in print:
- 1991
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198278702
- eISBN:
- 9780191684241
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198278702.003.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, Comparative Politics
This introductory chapter explains the coverage of this book, which is about the origins of the growing political marginalization of the French Communist Party (PCF), particularly the decline in ...
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This introductory chapter explains the coverage of this book, which is about the origins of the growing political marginalization of the French Communist Party (PCF), particularly the decline in intellectual affiliation to the party. The decline of the long tradition of French intellectual identification with the PCF started in the 1980s. In the twenty-fifth Congress in February 1985, a final resolution was passed that omitted the traditional reference to the party's alliance with French intellectuals. The decline in the party's ability to attract the support of intellectuals is attributed to the serious electoral decline suffered by the party between 1978 and 1989.Less
This introductory chapter explains the coverage of this book, which is about the origins of the growing political marginalization of the French Communist Party (PCF), particularly the decline in intellectual affiliation to the party. The decline of the long tradition of French intellectual identification with the PCF started in the 1980s. In the twenty-fifth Congress in February 1985, a final resolution was passed that omitted the traditional reference to the party's alliance with French intellectuals. The decline in the party's ability to attract the support of intellectuals is attributed to the serious electoral decline suffered by the party between 1978 and 1989.
Carolyn J. Dean
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- May 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780801449444
- eISBN:
- 9780801460333
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9780801449444.003.0003
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
This chapter discusses the general effort of French intellectuals after the 1980s to define victims and the experience of victimization in a new cultural context. Among many scholars and critics in ...
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This chapter discusses the general effort of French intellectuals after the 1980s to define victims and the experience of victimization in a new cultural context. Among many scholars and critics in France, Jews, the particularity of whose sufferings under the Vichy regime and in the Holocaust were only belatedly recognized, have been increasingly associated with victims and a hyperbolic rhetoric of victimization. The sustained attention paid in the last two decades both to Vichy's crimes against Jews and to the Holocaust itself in speeches, commemorative rituals, trials, and television shows led not only to an association of Jewish identity with collective injury, but also, to a French backlash against too much Jewish memory. French journalist and writer Nicolas Weill uses the term “Holocaust Fatigue” to describe the same phenomenon, and views it as the “probable cause” of public apathy when anti-Semitism allegedly resurged in France between 2000 and 2002.Less
This chapter discusses the general effort of French intellectuals after the 1980s to define victims and the experience of victimization in a new cultural context. Among many scholars and critics in France, Jews, the particularity of whose sufferings under the Vichy regime and in the Holocaust were only belatedly recognized, have been increasingly associated with victims and a hyperbolic rhetoric of victimization. The sustained attention paid in the last two decades both to Vichy's crimes against Jews and to the Holocaust itself in speeches, commemorative rituals, trials, and television shows led not only to an association of Jewish identity with collective injury, but also, to a French backlash against too much Jewish memory. French journalist and writer Nicolas Weill uses the term “Holocaust Fatigue” to describe the same phenomenon, and views it as the “probable cause” of public apathy when anti-Semitism allegedly resurged in France between 2000 and 2002.
Simone de Beauvoir
Margaret A. Simons and Marybeth Timmermann (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- April 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780252036941
- eISBN:
- 9780252097201
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Illinois Press
- DOI:
- 10.5406/illinois/9780252036941.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Feminist Philosophy
This book offers an abundance of newly translated essays by the author that demonstrate a heretofore unknown side of her political philosophy. The book documents and contextualizes the author’s ...
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This book offers an abundance of newly translated essays by the author that demonstrate a heretofore unknown side of her political philosophy. The book documents and contextualizes the author’s thinking, writing, public statements, and activities in the services of causes like French divorce law reform and the rights of women in the Iranian Revolution. It traces nearly three decades of her leftist political engagement, from exposés of conditions in fascist Spain and Portugal in 1945 and hard-hitting attacks on right-wing French intellectuals in the 1950s, to the 1962 defense of an Algerian freedom fighter, Djamila Boupacha, and a 1975 article arguing for what is now called the “two-state solution” in Israel. Together these texts prefigure the author’s later feminist activism and provide a new interpretive context for reading her multi-volume autobiography, while also shedding new light on French intellectual history during the turbulent era of decolonization. The book provides new insights into the author’s complex thinking and illuminates her historic role in linking the movements for sexual freedom, sexual equality, homosexual rights, and women’s rights in France.Less
This book offers an abundance of newly translated essays by the author that demonstrate a heretofore unknown side of her political philosophy. The book documents and contextualizes the author’s thinking, writing, public statements, and activities in the services of causes like French divorce law reform and the rights of women in the Iranian Revolution. It traces nearly three decades of her leftist political engagement, from exposés of conditions in fascist Spain and Portugal in 1945 and hard-hitting attacks on right-wing French intellectuals in the 1950s, to the 1962 defense of an Algerian freedom fighter, Djamila Boupacha, and a 1975 article arguing for what is now called the “two-state solution” in Israel. Together these texts prefigure the author’s later feminist activism and provide a new interpretive context for reading her multi-volume autobiography, while also shedding new light on French intellectual history during the turbulent era of decolonization. The book provides new insights into the author’s complex thinking and illuminates her historic role in linking the movements for sexual freedom, sexual equality, homosexual rights, and women’s rights in France.
Lucien Jaume
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691152042
- eISBN:
- 9781400846726
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691152042.003.0010
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Political Philosophy
This chapter considers the supposed Jansenist leanings of Tocqueville. For generations, scholars have been arguing that Tocqueville had deep sympathy for Pascal and perhaps for Jansenism. However, it ...
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This chapter considers the supposed Jansenist leanings of Tocqueville. For generations, scholars have been arguing that Tocqueville had deep sympathy for Pascal and perhaps for Jansenism. However, it remains to be seen what effects meditation on Pascal had on Tocqueville's writing. Furthermore, we cannot speak of “Jansenism” without examining what the public image of Jansenism (one of the most controversial schools of thought in French intellectual history) was in the 1830s and 1840s. And finally, we will need to say something about Tocqueville's stance with respect to that image. The chapter argues that Tocqueville was neither devout nor militant. He had no intention of publicly advocating a religious dogma, although he was in favor of publicly censuring materialism. For those who would like to enlist Tocqueville in the cause of religious revival, a letter to Kergorlay will set things straight. In it he explains that, from the standpoint of civic virtue, a book like L'Imitation de Jésus-Christ is useless and even dangerous.Less
This chapter considers the supposed Jansenist leanings of Tocqueville. For generations, scholars have been arguing that Tocqueville had deep sympathy for Pascal and perhaps for Jansenism. However, it remains to be seen what effects meditation on Pascal had on Tocqueville's writing. Furthermore, we cannot speak of “Jansenism” without examining what the public image of Jansenism (one of the most controversial schools of thought in French intellectual history) was in the 1830s and 1840s. And finally, we will need to say something about Tocqueville's stance with respect to that image. The chapter argues that Tocqueville was neither devout nor militant. He had no intention of publicly advocating a religious dogma, although he was in favor of publicly censuring materialism. For those who would like to enlist Tocqueville in the cause of religious revival, a letter to Kergorlay will set things straight. In it he explains that, from the standpoint of civic virtue, a book like L'Imitation de Jésus-Christ is useless and even dangerous.
Jerrold Seigel
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- August 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780801449017
- eISBN:
- 9780801460647
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9780801449017.003.0038
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
This chapter assesses the role of the intellectuals in France's political arena, most notably in the matter of the Dreyfus Affair. In its most general sense, the term “intellectual” might refer to ...
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This chapter assesses the role of the intellectuals in France's political arena, most notably in the matter of the Dreyfus Affair. In its most general sense, the term “intellectual” might refer to any person who dwells in the world of thought. During the 1890s, however, the word took on a particular meaning in France, referring to those thinkers, writers, artists, and teachers who come forward to play a role in public debate. The crystallization of this meaning took place in connection with the fierce conflicts that divided the country over the conviction of Captain Alfred Dreyfus for treason, and it led to a new prominence for those it designated. The chapter shows how this and several other distinguishing features of French life had made France into a place where intellectuals earliest and most prominently assumed this role in the nation's public sphere.Less
This chapter assesses the role of the intellectuals in France's political arena, most notably in the matter of the Dreyfus Affair. In its most general sense, the term “intellectual” might refer to any person who dwells in the world of thought. During the 1890s, however, the word took on a particular meaning in France, referring to those thinkers, writers, artists, and teachers who come forward to play a role in public debate. The crystallization of this meaning took place in connection with the fierce conflicts that divided the country over the conviction of Captain Alfred Dreyfus for treason, and it led to a new prominence for those it designated. The chapter shows how this and several other distinguishing features of French life had made France into a place where intellectuals earliest and most prominently assumed this role in the nation's public sphere.
Michael Kelly
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- May 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780823262373
- eISBN:
- 9780823266425
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fordham/9780823262373.003.0002
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
Kelly’s chapter provides an account of the development of a new humanist concept of engagement forged by French Catholic intellectuals in the crucible of debates and experiments of the 1930s. For an ...
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Kelly’s chapter provides an account of the development of a new humanist concept of engagement forged by French Catholic intellectuals in the crucible of debates and experiments of the 1930s. For an innovatory group of French Catholic intellectuals, the decade before the Second World War appeared as a crisis of civilization, the events of which shaped their search for a new relationship with ‘la Cité’ and attempts to found their socio-political involvement in new forms of citizenship. Often perceived as inconstant and ambiguous in their affiliations by contemporary politicians, these Catholic intellectuals were seeking to articulate underlying norms and values in secular terms. Kelly explores the development of a humanist concept of engagement through the work of Jacques Maritain, Gabriel Marcel, and Emmanuel Mounier, and shows how their efforts in the 1930s brought into being a broader, inclusive and flexible means of engagement that is arguably still as fresh and effective today.Less
Kelly’s chapter provides an account of the development of a new humanist concept of engagement forged by French Catholic intellectuals in the crucible of debates and experiments of the 1930s. For an innovatory group of French Catholic intellectuals, the decade before the Second World War appeared as a crisis of civilization, the events of which shaped their search for a new relationship with ‘la Cité’ and attempts to found their socio-political involvement in new forms of citizenship. Often perceived as inconstant and ambiguous in their affiliations by contemporary politicians, these Catholic intellectuals were seeking to articulate underlying norms and values in secular terms. Kelly explores the development of a humanist concept of engagement through the work of Jacques Maritain, Gabriel Marcel, and Emmanuel Mounier, and shows how their efforts in the 1930s brought into being a broader, inclusive and flexible means of engagement that is arguably still as fresh and effective today.
Jeremy Ahearne
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- June 2013
- ISBN:
- 9781846312458
- eISBN:
- 9781846316081
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5949/UPO9781846316081
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Cultural Studies
French intellectuals have always defined themselves in political terms. They figure in common representation as oppositional figures set against State and government. But speaking truth to power is ...
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French intellectuals have always defined themselves in political terms. They figure in common representation as oppositional figures set against State and government. But speaking truth to power is not the only way that intellectuals in France have brought their influence to bear upon political fields. This book explores a neglected dimension of French intellectuals' practice. What happens when, instead of denouncing from without the worlds of government and public policy, French intellectuals become voluntarily, at least for a while, entangled within those worlds? After a historical and theoretical overview, the heart of the book is constituted by a series of case studies exploring policy domains in which strategies for shaping the broad ‘culture’ of France have been debated and developed. These comprise issues of laicity and secularization, reform of the educational curriculum, programmes of cultural ‘democratization’ and ‘democracy’, and public television programming. The book explores the policy engagement of intellectuals such as Pierre Bourdieu, Michel de Certeau, André Malraux, Catherine Clément, Régis Debray, Francis Jeanson, Henri Wallon, Blandine Kriegel and Edgar Morin.Less
French intellectuals have always defined themselves in political terms. They figure in common representation as oppositional figures set against State and government. But speaking truth to power is not the only way that intellectuals in France have brought their influence to bear upon political fields. This book explores a neglected dimension of French intellectuals' practice. What happens when, instead of denouncing from without the worlds of government and public policy, French intellectuals become voluntarily, at least for a while, entangled within those worlds? After a historical and theoretical overview, the heart of the book is constituted by a series of case studies exploring policy domains in which strategies for shaping the broad ‘culture’ of France have been debated and developed. These comprise issues of laicity and secularization, reform of the educational curriculum, programmes of cultural ‘democratization’ and ‘democracy’, and public television programming. The book explores the policy engagement of intellectuals such as Pierre Bourdieu, Michel de Certeau, André Malraux, Catherine Clément, Régis Debray, Francis Jeanson, Henri Wallon, Blandine Kriegel and Edgar Morin.
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- March 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780226349510
- eISBN:
- 9780226349466
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226349466.003.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Early Christian Studies
This book highlights mysticism of twentieth-century fascination with its emotional, bodily, and excessive forms, as well as how mysticism plays a crucial role in the work of other secular ...
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This book highlights mysticism of twentieth-century fascination with its emotional, bodily, and excessive forms, as well as how mysticism plays a crucial role in the work of other secular twentieth-century French intellectuals. It focuses on a feminized and embodied figure of the medieval and early modern mystic, and the work it performs, both epistemologically and affectively, for these secular, twentieth-century intellectuals. The meaning of the woman mystic's experience, especially her bodily experience, has been discussed with regard to competing interpretations and claims to authority. The difference between feminine and masculine types of mysticism is rendered more problematic by the fact that the most visionary and ecstatic mystics usually include within their texts the call for a move through the visionary to another kind of more ineffable experience of union with the divine. Thus, feminism needs to find a place for the rituals that help human beings sustain loss and support subjectivity.Less
This book highlights mysticism of twentieth-century fascination with its emotional, bodily, and excessive forms, as well as how mysticism plays a crucial role in the work of other secular twentieth-century French intellectuals. It focuses on a feminized and embodied figure of the medieval and early modern mystic, and the work it performs, both epistemologically and affectively, for these secular, twentieth-century intellectuals. The meaning of the woman mystic's experience, especially her bodily experience, has been discussed with regard to competing interpretations and claims to authority. The difference between feminine and masculine types of mysticism is rendered more problematic by the fact that the most visionary and ecstatic mystics usually include within their texts the call for a move through the visionary to another kind of more ineffable experience of union with the divine. Thus, feminism needs to find a place for the rituals that help human beings sustain loss and support subjectivity.
Emilie Du Chatelet
Judith P. Zinsser (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- March 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780226168067
- eISBN:
- 9780226168081
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226168081.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, History of Science, Technology, and Medicine
Though most historians remember her as the mistress of Voltaire, Emilie Du Châtelet (1706–1749) was an accomplished writer in her own right, who published multiple editions of her scientific writings ...
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Though most historians remember her as the mistress of Voltaire, Emilie Du Châtelet (1706–1749) was an accomplished writer in her own right, who published multiple editions of her scientific writings during her lifetime, as well as a translation of Isaac Newton's Principia Mathematica that is still the standard edition of that work in French. Had she been a man, her reputation as a member of the eighteenth-century French intellectual elite would have been assured. In the 1970s, feminist historians of science began the slow work of recovering Du Châtelet's writings and her contributions to history and philosophy. For this edition, key sections from Du Châtelet's published and unpublished works have been selected, as well as related correspondence, part of her little-known critique of the Old and New Testaments, and a treatise on happiness that is a refreshingly uncensored piece of autobiography—making all of them available for the first time in English. The resulting volume will recover Châtelet's place in the pantheon of French letters and culture.Less
Though most historians remember her as the mistress of Voltaire, Emilie Du Châtelet (1706–1749) was an accomplished writer in her own right, who published multiple editions of her scientific writings during her lifetime, as well as a translation of Isaac Newton's Principia Mathematica that is still the standard edition of that work in French. Had she been a man, her reputation as a member of the eighteenth-century French intellectual elite would have been assured. In the 1970s, feminist historians of science began the slow work of recovering Du Châtelet's writings and her contributions to history and philosophy. For this edition, key sections from Du Châtelet's published and unpublished works have been selected, as well as related correspondence, part of her little-known critique of the Old and New Testaments, and a treatise on happiness that is a refreshingly uncensored piece of autobiography—making all of them available for the first time in English. The resulting volume will recover Châtelet's place in the pantheon of French letters and culture.
Amy Hollywood
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- March 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780226349510
- eISBN:
- 9780226349466
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226349466.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Early Christian Studies
This book investigates the attraction to excessive forms of mysticism among twentieth-century French intellectuals and demonstrates the work that the figure of the mystic does for these thinkers. ...
More
This book investigates the attraction to excessive forms of mysticism among twentieth-century French intellectuals and demonstrates the work that the figure of the mystic does for these thinkers. With special attention to Georges Bataille, Simone de Beauvoir, Jacques Lacan, and Luce Irigaray, the author asks why resolutely secular, even anti-Christian intellectuals are drawn to affective, bodily, and widely denigrated forms of mysticism. What is particular to these thinkers is their attention to forms of mysticism associated with women. They regard mystics such as Angela of Foligno, Hadewijch, and Teresa of Avila not as emotionally excessive or escapist, but as unique in their ability to think outside of the restrictive oppositions that continue to afflict our understanding of subjectivity, the body, and sexual difference. Mystics such as these, like their twentieth-century descendants, bridge the gaps between action and contemplation, emotion and reason, and body and soul, offering new ways of thinking about language and the limits of representation.Less
This book investigates the attraction to excessive forms of mysticism among twentieth-century French intellectuals and demonstrates the work that the figure of the mystic does for these thinkers. With special attention to Georges Bataille, Simone de Beauvoir, Jacques Lacan, and Luce Irigaray, the author asks why resolutely secular, even anti-Christian intellectuals are drawn to affective, bodily, and widely denigrated forms of mysticism. What is particular to these thinkers is their attention to forms of mysticism associated with women. They regard mystics such as Angela of Foligno, Hadewijch, and Teresa of Avila not as emotionally excessive or escapist, but as unique in their ability to think outside of the restrictive oppositions that continue to afflict our understanding of subjectivity, the body, and sexual difference. Mystics such as these, like their twentieth-century descendants, bridge the gaps between action and contemplation, emotion and reason, and body and soul, offering new ways of thinking about language and the limits of representation.
