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Journal de Californie
Invité fin 1969 au Salk Institute for Biological Studies à San Diego, E. Morin plonge dans la Californie, « terre en transes », « tête chercheuse du vaisseau spatial terre ». L’originalité de ce journal est dans e tourbillon qui active et fait communiquer, à un pôle la Californie et les Etats-Unis à un moment crucial de leur histoire, à un troisième pôle les problèmes fondamentaux de la connaissance de l’homme et de la vie. C’est ce mouvement même qui constitue le Journal de Californie .
288 pages, Pocket Book
First published October 1, 1983
1 person is currently reading
17 people want to read
About the author
Edgar Morin
422 books374 followersEdgar Morin (born Edgar Nahoum) is a French philosopher and sociologist who has been internationally recognized for his work on complexity and "complex thought," and for his scholarly contributions to such diverse fields as media studies, politics, sociology, visual anthropology, ecology, education, and systems biology. He holds degrees in history, economics, and law. Though less well known in the United States due to the limited availability of English translations of his over 60 books, Morin is renowned in the French-speaking world, Europe, and Latin America.
At the beginning of the 20th century, Morin's family migrated from the Greek town of Salonica to Marseille and later to Paris, where Edgar was born. He first became tied to socialism in connection with the Popular Front and the Spanish Republican Government during the Spanish Civil War.
When the Germans invaded France in 1940, Edgar fled to Toulouse, where he assisted refugees and committed himself to Marxist socialism. As a member of the French Resistance he adopted the pseudonym Morin, which he would use for the rest of his life. He joined the French Communist Party in 1941. In 1945, Morin married Violette Chapellaubeau and they lived in Landau, where he served as a Lieutenant in the French Occupation army in Germany.
In 1946, he returned to Paris and gave up his military career to pursue his activities with the Communist party. Due to his critical posture, his relationship with the party gradually deteriorated until he was expelled in 1951 after he published an article in Le Nouvel Observateur. In the same year, he was admitted to the National Center of Scientific Research (CNRS).
Morin founded and directed the magazine Arguments (1954–1962). In 1959 his book Autocritique was published.
In 1960, Morin travelled extensively in Latin America, visiting Brazil, Chile, Bolivia, Peru and Mexico.He returned to France where he published L'Esprit du Temps.
That same year, French sociologist Georges Friedmann brought him and Roland Barthes together to create a Centre for the Study of Mass Communication that, after several name-changes, became the Edgar Morin Centre of the EHESS, Paris.
Beginning in 1965, Morin became involved in a large multidisciplinary project, financed by the Délégation Générale à la Recherche Scientifique et Technologique in Plozévet.
In 1968, Morin replaced Henri Lefebvre at the University of Nanterre. He became involved in the student revolts that began to emerge in France. In May 1968, he wrote a series of articles for Le Monde that tried to understand what he called "The Student Commune." He followed the student revolt closely and wrote a second series of articles in Le Monde called "The Revolution without a Face," as well as co-authoring Mai 68: La brèche with Cornelius Castoriadis and Claude Lefort.
In 1969, Morin spent a year at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, California.
In 1983, he published De la nature de l’URSS, which deepened his analysis of Soviet communism and anticipated the Perestroika of Mikhail Gorbachev.
Morin was married to Johanne Harrelle, with whom he lived for 15 years.
In 2002, Morin participated in the creation of the International Ethical, Scientific and Political Collegium.
In addition to being the UNESCO Chair of Complex Thought, Morin is known as a founder of transdisciplinarity and holds honorary doctorates in a variety of social science fields from 21 universities (Messina, Geneva, Milan, Bergamo, Thessaloniki, La Paz, Odense, Perugia, Cosenza, Palermo, Nuevo León, Université de Laval à Québec, Brussels, Barcelona, Guadalajara, Valencia, Vera Cruz, Santiago, the Catholic University of Porto Alegre, the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, and Candido Mendes University Rio de Janeiro.
The University of Messina in Sicily, Ricardo Palma University in Lima, and the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), the French National Research Center in
At the beginning of the 20th century, Morin's family migrated from the Greek town of Salonica to Marseille and later to Paris, where Edgar was born. He first became tied to socialism in connection with the Popular Front and the Spanish Republican Government during the Spanish Civil War.
When the Germans invaded France in 1940, Edgar fled to Toulouse, where he assisted refugees and committed himself to Marxist socialism. As a member of the French Resistance he adopted the pseudonym Morin, which he would use for the rest of his life. He joined the French Communist Party in 1941. In 1945, Morin married Violette Chapellaubeau and they lived in Landau, where he served as a Lieutenant in the French Occupation army in Germany.
In 1946, he returned to Paris and gave up his military career to pursue his activities with the Communist party. Due to his critical posture, his relationship with the party gradually deteriorated until he was expelled in 1951 after he published an article in Le Nouvel Observateur. In the same year, he was admitted to the National Center of Scientific Research (CNRS).
Morin founded and directed the magazine Arguments (1954–1962). In 1959 his book Autocritique was published.
In 1960, Morin travelled extensively in Latin America, visiting Brazil, Chile, Bolivia, Peru and Mexico.He returned to France where he published L'Esprit du Temps.
That same year, French sociologist Georges Friedmann brought him and Roland Barthes together to create a Centre for the Study of Mass Communication that, after several name-changes, became the Edgar Morin Centre of the EHESS, Paris.
Beginning in 1965, Morin became involved in a large multidisciplinary project, financed by the Délégation Générale à la Recherche Scientifique et Technologique in Plozévet.
In 1968, Morin replaced Henri Lefebvre at the University of Nanterre. He became involved in the student revolts that began to emerge in France. In May 1968, he wrote a series of articles for Le Monde that tried to understand what he called "The Student Commune." He followed the student revolt closely and wrote a second series of articles in Le Monde called "The Revolution without a Face," as well as co-authoring Mai 68: La brèche with Cornelius Castoriadis and Claude Lefort.
In 1969, Morin spent a year at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, California.
In 1983, he published De la nature de l’URSS, which deepened his analysis of Soviet communism and anticipated the Perestroika of Mikhail Gorbachev.
Morin was married to Johanne Harrelle, with whom he lived for 15 years.
In 2002, Morin participated in the creation of the International Ethical, Scientific and Political Collegium.
In addition to being the UNESCO Chair of Complex Thought, Morin is known as a founder of transdisciplinarity and holds honorary doctorates in a variety of social science fields from 21 universities (Messina, Geneva, Milan, Bergamo, Thessaloniki, La Paz, Odense, Perugia, Cosenza, Palermo, Nuevo León, Université de Laval à Québec, Brussels, Barcelona, Guadalajara, Valencia, Vera Cruz, Santiago, the Catholic University of Porto Alegre, the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, and Candido Mendes University Rio de Janeiro.
The University of Messina in Sicily, Ricardo Palma University in Lima, and the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), the French National Research Center in
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
August 28, 2023
The diary makes us witness of his yearlong stay in California in 1970. His inspiration gets tangible. We are witness of some of his most important concepts being born, under the influence of the Salk institute; those concepts with which he will set up La Methode. But is is not only that. There is a lot in it: a meeting with in the background a Janis Joplin concert, the perils of California housing, a short description of L.A. Impressions from him as an outsider to America, European prejudices, European idolatry. But also: a lot of self-observation: 'J'ai toujours trop voulu les choses contradictoires ensemble'. His complexity theory was born out of practical self-experience.
The book is so versatile: for instance, he talks about dreams, his own dreams, and also the things that are caused by dreams. His report of his visit to H. reveals how romantic his soul basically is. Then he quickly switches to observations of hippiedom: 'C'est un neo-tribalisme, quelque chose de tres archaique qui surgit de la pointe avancee de la modernite.' Or 'L'hedonisme d'etre (revolution culturelle) s'oppose radicalement a l'hedonisme de l'avoir (societe bourgoise).' Contemporary political philosophy joins a joie de vivre so typical of those times. This document makes the atmosphere and sense of urgency of that period palpable and reviable.
Page 127 to 141 (Seuil edition) offers an analysis of hippiedom that I found brilliant. He is in the midst of it, but he can rise above it too and look at it from a distance. Isn't this is exactly what La Methode does when it tries to speak of complexity? His dissection of hippiedom explores its roots and reaffirms its character of a counter-movement that wants to give air to what has been (and is) suppressed for so long in our technology- and profit-driven society. Of course, this romanticism is still alive today. In fact, hippiedom has never gone away.
The continuous sunshine in this text. Openly sharing feelings and thoughts that are not particularly socially desirable. His vision of ideas as having an ecosystem of their own, in statu nascendi in this text. Casual observations. Then, aphorisms, why not. And in the end of the book a description of a personal catharsis, bringing him into a euphoric state, where he finds the inner peace to get to work...
Back there, in California, everything came together. His heyday, in fact the birth of La Methode.
Quite intense, this whole thing. Nice to have this inspiration so well conveyed. This is an essential text for every Morin-fan.
The book is so versatile: for instance, he talks about dreams, his own dreams, and also the things that are caused by dreams. His report of his visit to H. reveals how romantic his soul basically is. Then he quickly switches to observations of hippiedom: 'C'est un neo-tribalisme, quelque chose de tres archaique qui surgit de la pointe avancee de la modernite.' Or 'L'hedonisme d'etre (revolution culturelle) s'oppose radicalement a l'hedonisme de l'avoir (societe bourgoise).' Contemporary political philosophy joins a joie de vivre so typical of those times. This document makes the atmosphere and sense of urgency of that period palpable and reviable.
Page 127 to 141 (Seuil edition) offers an analysis of hippiedom that I found brilliant. He is in the midst of it, but he can rise above it too and look at it from a distance. Isn't this is exactly what La Methode does when it tries to speak of complexity? His dissection of hippiedom explores its roots and reaffirms its character of a counter-movement that wants to give air to what has been (and is) suppressed for so long in our technology- and profit-driven society. Of course, this romanticism is still alive today. In fact, hippiedom has never gone away.
The continuous sunshine in this text. Openly sharing feelings and thoughts that are not particularly socially desirable. His vision of ideas as having an ecosystem of their own, in statu nascendi in this text. Casual observations. Then, aphorisms, why not. And in the end of the book a description of a personal catharsis, bringing him into a euphoric state, where he finds the inner peace to get to work...
Back there, in California, everything came together. His heyday, in fact the birth of La Methode.
Quite intense, this whole thing. Nice to have this inspiration so well conveyed. This is an essential text for every Morin-fan.
Displaying 1 of 1 review