François Châtelet (27 April 1925 – 26 December 1985) was a historian of philosophy, political philosophy and professor in the socratic tradition. He was the husband of philosopher Noëlle Châtelet, the sister of Lionel Jospin.

Biography[edit]

Châtelet was born and died in Paris. Along with Michel Foucault and Gilles Deleuze, he is a founder of the department of philosophy at the University of Vincennes, which was established in the aftermath of the May, 1968 student protests across France.^[1] Along with Jean-Pierre Vernant, he and joined the department of philosophy at the University of São Paulo in 1971 as a form of protest to Brazilian military government's imprisonment of most of the department's faculty.^[2] In 1983, he co-founded the Collège international de philosophie(International College of Philosophy), which is described as being at “the forefront of militant and engaged critical thinking,” and has sought to “relocate philosophy at the intersection of science, politics, psychoanalysis, art and literature, jurisprudence, and economy.”^[1][3] Châtelet's philosophy links thought and action, engaging in a restless combat with his contemporaries.

His conception of philosophy makes him more of a historian of philosophy than a philosopher. At the same time, his work demonstrates that the history of philosophy is always a politics of philosophy and history of politics as well.^[4] In his work une histoire de la raison (A History of Reason), he shows the role of philosophy in the constitution of modern Western rationality. His work Platon (Plato) is a formidable invitation-initiation to the thought of the ancient Greek philosopher.

In 2023, his work appeared in English translation for the first time with a translation of his "Classical Greece, Reason, and the State" by Adam E. Foster in volume 38 of Parrhesia: A Journal of Critical Philosophy.^[5]

Works[edit]

• Périclès et son siècle (Pericles and his age) (1960)
• La naissance de l'histoire : la formation de la pensée historienne en Grèce, (The birth of history: the formation of historical thought in Greece) (1961)
• Logos et praxis: recherches sur la signification théorique du marxisme (Logos and praxis: research on the theoretical significance of Marxism) (1962)
• Platon (Plato) (1965)
• Hegel (1968)
• La philosophie des Professeurs (The Philosophy of Professors) (1970)
• Histoire de la philosophie (History of Philosophy) (1972–1973) — 8 volumes
• Profil d'une œuvre : « Le Capital » (livre 2) (Profile of a work: Das Capital (book 2)) (1976)
• Les Années de démolition (The Demolition Years) (1976)
• Questions, objections (Questions, objections) (1979)
• Une histoire de la raison (A History of Reason) (1992)
• Logos et Praxis (Logos and Praxis) (2006)

English Translations[edit]

• "Classical Greece, Reason, and the State," trans. Adam E. Foster, Parrhesia: A Journal of Critical Philosophy 38 (2023): 21-43.^[5]

Co-authored Works[edit]

• La Révolution sans modèle (Revolution without a model) (1974), with Gilles Lapouge and Oliver Revault d'Allones.
• Les marxistes et la politique (Marxists and the political) (1975), with Évelyne Pisier and Jean-Marie Vincent.
• Chronique des idées perdues (The chronicle of lost ideas) (1977), with André Akoun.
• Les conceptions politiques du xx^e siècle (Political conceptions of the 20th century) (1982), with Évelyne Pisier.
• Histoire des conceptions politiques (History of political conceptions) (1982), with Éveline Pisier and Olivier Duhamel.
• Dictionnaire des œuvres politiques (Dictionary of political works) (1986), with Éveline Pisier and Olivier Duhamel.

References[edit]

External links[edit]

• Media related to François Châtelet at Wikimedia Commons