French Philosophers List

France has given top philosophers to the history of thinking : Voltaire, Descartes and later Sartre and Camus structured the philosophical field.

Find out a comprehensive list of french philosophers :

Denis Diderot: Philosophy Summary

Denis Diderot is a french essayist, philosopher and playwright, one the leading figures of the Enlightenment. He studied in Paris where he became acquainted with Rousseau and translated the works of Locke and Shaftesbury. In 1750, he became editor of the Encyclopedie, to which he contributed several articles on aesthetics, ethics, social theory and the philosophy of history. The essay Lettre sur les aveugles (1749)

Robespierre and the Reign of Terror

Robespierre and The conspiracy theory: We will try to show that the french revolutionary terror is indeed based on a conspiracy theory that leads to a theory and a practice of an ideology of transparency, which in turn leads to death of politics. Terror, which began in September 1792 and ended in July 1794

Rousseau’s Philosophy Summary

The Philosophy of Jean-Jacques Rousseau Genevan philosopher writing in French, Jean-Jacques Rousseau wrote essentially: – Discourse on the Sciences and Arts (1750) – Discourse on the Origin of Inequality among men (1755) – The Social Contract (1762) – Emile – On Education (1762) Rousseau has been subject to multiple interpretations, often contradictory and caricatured and beyond these, critics have beens sometimes simplistic,

Sartre: Hell is other people (Explanation)

No Exit and the question of other people : This quote is one of the most famous Jean-Paul Sartre. It completed the play ‘Huis Clos’, written in 1943. ‘No Exit’ relates the arrival of three characters in hell. Two women and a man trying to understand what might lead them to hell and what is their punishment. They quickly understand that there is no executioner because each of the other two is the hangman for the third. The full version of the quote lights this: “All those glances that I eat … Ha, you’re only two? I thought you were much more numerous. So that’s hell

Descartes: I think therefore I am

I think therefore I am: Descartes’s cogito This quote was taken from the Discourse on Method, René Descartes lighthouse work. Descartes is looking for an unalterable foundation to build the knowledge, a fixed point from which knowledge could be erected . For this, Descartesproposes two methods: –  the doubt – the evil genius Both methods reach the same result: the certainty of the existence of subjectivity : i think therefore i am….

Sartre VS Camus

Introduction on Sartre vs Camus : War & Philosophy : An historical background The relationship between Sartre/Camus has modeled the post-war french philosophy. Since 1943, Sartre and Camus, great friends, are everywhere together. The public, without detail, includes the author of ‘Nausea‘ and of ‘The Stranger‘ under

Camus and Absurdism

The Concept of absurd plays a major role in Camus and existentialism philosophy: the Stranger (1942) and the Myth of Sisyphus (1942) defines the absurd as the divorce between man and the world. General Definitions: In Latin absurdus, which has forged a sound that unusual, absurd, preposterous. – Logic: contradictory, contrary to logic and its rules, which violates these rules. – Vocabulary existentialist: refers to what is meaningless,

Sartre: Existentialism is a humanism (Summary)

The lecture The Existentialism is a humanism of Sartre is one of the best-selling French philosophy book. Pronounced at the Sorbonne (well known university in Paris) in 1946, two years after Being and Nothingness (his theory of ontology theory) being published, the lecture aims to remove misunderstandings and criticisms directed to this book, especially marxists and catholics ones. The thesis of the conference is : my philosophy is a humanist philosophy,

Rousseau: Discourse on Inequality (Summary)

Discourse on the Origin and Basis of Inequality Among Men by Jean Jacques Rousseau : The story of the mankind Rousseau’s Discourse on Inequality is one of the strongest critics of modernity ever written. Rousseau describes the ravages of modernity on human nature and civilization inequality are nested according to the Genevan thinker.

Sartre: Nausea (Analysis)

Nausea as an ontological feeling Nausea is the first novel by Jean-Paul Sartre, published in 1938. This novel tells the ontological experience of Roquentin, a young studient, who came in Bouville to study the story of an emigrant through the archives of the city. This project is easily discouraged,

Simone De Beauvoir: One is not born a woman, but becomes one

De Beauvoir: An Existentialist philosophy The Second Sex is the greatest book of contemporary philosophy of feminism. Simone de Beauvoir presents his major thesis, that of woman as a figure of the Other, as figure alienated by the dominant male culture. But this book is not just a philosophical statement,

Baudrillard: The Consumer Society

The consumer society by Baudrillard : A sociological approach to capitalism Consumer society, by Jean Baudrillard, is a major contribution to contemporary sociology and philosophy,  at the height of the Division of Labor Durkheim or The Protestant Ethic and the Ethics of Capitalism Weber. For Baudrillard, consumption is the major feature of Western societies, the “global response which underpins our whole cultural system.”

Descartes: Philosophy Summary

The Philosophy of Rene Descartes, a french rationalist Rene Descartes is the most famous french philosopher. Indeed, Descartes got nice charts of works to his credit … among the best known: – Rules for directions of the mind (1628) – Discourse on Method, Preface to the Dioptric, the Meteors, and Geometry (1637) –

Thomas Aquinas VS Saint Augustine

Saint Augustine: politics as City of God (theocracy) What is the majeur change brought by St. Augustine‘s political thought since to the revelation? Simple answer is: Introducing God as the foundation of politics, as its foreground. The Start of onto-theology of Augustine is: men are equal, but created by God as subjects. Augustine distinguished two kingdoms of men and God, the temporal and spiritual power. The temporal power, because it is based on natural law, which part of …