French Philosophy Now

Manon Royet tells us what's happening in French philosophy, and why you don’t know about it.

From Descartes and Voltaire, to Sartre and Foucault, French thought has long occupied a privileged seat in the world's agora. René Descartes (1596-1650), for instance, is often referred to as 'the Father of Modern Philosophy' which admittedly denotes a Eurocentric field of view that looks at history with blinkers. But twentieth century French thinkers such as Foucault, de Beauvoir, Barthes, and Derrida are also among the most influential voices of modern philosophy. In the West they are unavoidable cultural references for a vast array of academic disciplines, ranging from philosophy to history and sociolinguistics. Foucault viewed his project as a 'Critical History of Thought', and Derrida's most famous work, Of Grammatology (1967) criticised some of the principles put forward by the founder of linguistics, Ferdinand De Saussure.

A few years ago, while writing on sociology, I was surprised to receive criticism for having omitted to include works by Michel Foucault in my bibliography. I was puzzled. My research did not engage with Foucault's precepts: why, then, should he be referenced in it? It did not matter, the criticising academic said: the rule of thumb is that whenever one deals with any of the numerous themes that passed under Foucault's scrutiny, he should be cited. This would cover topics as different as power, discourse, conformity, institutions... the list is long. But if this speaks to the statutory position of twentieth century French thought, it also highlights one thing: we don't hear of new French thinkers anymore. Think about it. Could you name a French philosopher who is still writing?

The Growing Silence Of French Voices