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Philosophy in Turbulent Times: Canguilhem, Sartre, Foucault, Althusser, Deleuze, Derrida
For Elisabeth Roudinesco, a historian of psychoanalysis and one of France's leading intellectuals, Canguilhem, Sartre, Foucault, Althusser, Deleuze, and Derrida represent a "great generation" of French philosophers who accomplished remarkable work and lived incredible lives. These troubled and innovative thinkers endured World War II and the cultural and political revolution of the 1960s, and their cultural horizon was dominated by Marxism and psychoanalysis, though they were by no means strict adherents to the doctrines of Marx and Freud.
Roudinesco knew many of these intellectuals personally, and she weaves an account of their thought through lived experience and reminiscences. Canguilhem, for example, was a distinguished philosopher of science who had a great influence on Foucault's exploration of sanity and madness-themes Althusser lived in a notorious personal drama. And in dramatizing the life of Freud for the screen, Sartre fundamentally altered his own philosophical approach to psychoanalysis.
Roudinesco launches a passionate defense of Canguilhem, Sartre, Foucault, Althusser, Deleuze, and Derrida against the "new philosophers" of the late 1970s and 1980s, who denounced the work-and sometimes the private lives-of this great generation. Roudinesco refutes attempts to tar them, as well as the Marxist and left-wing tradition in general, with the brush of Soviet-style communism. In Freudian theory and the philosophy of radical commitment, she sees a bulwark against the kind of manipulative, pill-prescribing, and normalizing psychology that aims to turn individuals into mindless consumers. Intense, clever, and persuasive, Philosophy in Turbulent Times captivates with the dynamism of French thought in the twentieth century.
Roudinesco knew many of these intellectuals personally, and she weaves an account of their thought through lived experience and reminiscences. Canguilhem, for example, was a distinguished philosopher of science who had a great influence on Foucault's exploration of sanity and madness-themes Althusser lived in a notorious personal drama. And in dramatizing the life of Freud for the screen, Sartre fundamentally altered his own philosophical approach to psychoanalysis.
Roudinesco launches a passionate defense of Canguilhem, Sartre, Foucault, Althusser, Deleuze, and Derrida against the "new philosophers" of the late 1970s and 1980s, who denounced the work-and sometimes the private lives-of this great generation. Roudinesco refutes attempts to tar them, as well as the Marxist and left-wing tradition in general, with the brush of Soviet-style communism. In Freudian theory and the philosophy of radical commitment, she sees a bulwark against the kind of manipulative, pill-prescribing, and normalizing psychology that aims to turn individuals into mindless consumers. Intense, clever, and persuasive, Philosophy in Turbulent Times captivates with the dynamism of French thought in the twentieth century.
208 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2005
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About the author
Élisabeth Roudinesco
76 books84 followersÉlisabeth Roudinesco est la seule à avoir su, avec la précision de l'historienne et l'expérience de la praticienne, faire revivre en une fresque documentée les doctrines, les hommes et les femmes qui ont incarné en France cette révolution de l'âme.
La seule aussi à avoir mis en perspective les théories, les mouvements et les débats qui n'ont cessé d'animer le milieu psychanalytique français depuis 1885 : de l'arrivée à Paris de Freud, venu assister aux leçons de Charcot à la Salpêtrière, jusqu'à la récente mise en cause des thérapies psychanalytiques, en passant par l'extraordinaire aventure lacanienne.
La seule aussi à avoir mis en perspective les théories, les mouvements et les débats qui n'ont cessé d'animer le milieu psychanalytique français depuis 1885 : de l'arrivée à Paris de Freud, venu assister aux leçons de Charcot à la Salpêtrière, jusqu'à la récente mise en cause des thérapies psychanalytiques, en passant par l'extraordinaire aventure lacanienne.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
December 26, 2023
This memoir/biography was written in 2005.. Roudinesco knew the six thinkers she discusses: Canguilhem, Sartre, Foucault, Althusser, Deleuze and Derrida. She is focused on their various complaints with Freud. Canguilhem worked as a doctor while in the Resistance.
Canguilhem took a PhD in philosophy. He began to study medicine while a teacher. He served in the Resistance and also as a doctor. His focus was philosophy of science. He wrote a book called The Normal and the Pathological, in which he argued that they lay in a continuum. Their differences being only quantitative. “Pathological phenomena are identical to normal phenomena, except for quantitative variations. He vehemently disagreed with behaviorism. He disliked the connection of the life of the mind with biology. Though he disagreed with Bergson’s vitalism.
Sartre purportedly was in the Resistance but was little affected by the War. Althusser was a POW from the beginning. Althusser killed his wife in 1980 but was not tried due to mental illness or temporary insanity. Derrida wrote a book of eulogies to some of these thinkers.
Must writers and thinkers only come from the pool of people who have suffered in life? Or only those who have psychological issues? Why is it the troubled people write? It does seem that in the past people who have had very few troubles have written. It just seems that they are silent now.
Freud runs through this book. He is an idea that the various thinkers Roudinesco mentions deal with. Kirkpatrick says that Freud is a methodology in his recent book. But no one here really wrestles with Freud‘s theory or his evidence such as it is. They merely wrestle with the idea of Freud. Or perhaps it is Roudinesco.
Canguilhem took a PhD in philosophy. He began to study medicine while a teacher. He served in the Resistance and also as a doctor. His focus was philosophy of science. He wrote a book called The Normal and the Pathological, in which he argued that they lay in a continuum. Their differences being only quantitative. “Pathological phenomena are identical to normal phenomena, except for quantitative variations. He vehemently disagreed with behaviorism. He disliked the connection of the life of the mind with biology. Though he disagreed with Bergson’s vitalism.
Sartre purportedly was in the Resistance but was little affected by the War. Althusser was a POW from the beginning. Althusser killed his wife in 1980 but was not tried due to mental illness or temporary insanity. Derrida wrote a book of eulogies to some of these thinkers.
Must writers and thinkers only come from the pool of people who have suffered in life? Or only those who have psychological issues? Why is it the troubled people write? It does seem that in the past people who have had very few troubles have written. It just seems that they are silent now.
Freud runs through this book. He is an idea that the various thinkers Roudinesco mentions deal with. Kirkpatrick says that Freud is a methodology in his recent book. But no one here really wrestles with Freud‘s theory or his evidence such as it is. They merely wrestle with the idea of Freud. Or perhaps it is Roudinesco.
June 6, 2012
Total trash. How can I take French philosophy seriously when this preposterous, comical romance is offered up as its "defense"? The outdated, Victorian pseudoscience known as Freudianism poisoned French philosophy for nearly a century. That is nothing to celebrate, and its continued perpetuation is insufferable.
May 4, 2023
Bastante bueno y comprensible.
October 16, 2009
I got excited shivers reading the introduction, too bad the rest of the book didn't follow course. Biographical snippets that are more nostalgia than a look at the philosophies of the thinkers therein.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews