Encyclopedia of Modern French Thought

(Note: The preface is taken from uncorrected proofs. Changes may be made prior to publication.)

French thought has had a profound impact on modern intellectual and cultural life, notably in the United States. It is an influence that has been keenly felt in (among other fields) philosophy, linguistics, political and social thought, cultural studies, history, psychoanalysis, literary theory and criticism, anthropology, the philosophy of science and technology, media studies, and in the theory and practice of the arts. Moreover, in recent decades French thinkers have played the leading role in attempting to characterize those profound changes in our intellectual, cultural, and moral life that have been labeled the "post-modern condition."

Though it is not possible to consider all the defining characteristics of modern French thought—the range of disciplines and themes is far too wide—there are several features that, though not universal, illustrate the unique significance of French thinkers.

The first is their response to German thinkers: Kant certainly, but also, and with dramatic impact, Hegel, Marx, Freud, Dilthey, Durkheim, Husserl, Jaspers, Heidegger, and- especially during the second half of the century, when faith in "big theorie" gave way to a radical skepticism—Nietzsche. Many of the most original interpretations of these major thinkers, interpretations that have in turn been influential in the United States, Britain, and elsewhere, are the work of French intellectuals.

A second and related feature is the key role played by French thinkers in the radical reappraisal of many of the central assumptions, concepts, and values of Western thought, notably those inherited from the Enlightenment. These include such closely related themes as the authority of reason—the degree to which it is limiting or even, as an agent of the dominant ideology, repressive; the unstable nature of the self—a questioning of the Cartesian cogito, the thinking self as autonomous and foundational; the pervasive and inescapable role of language in determining our understanding of ourselves and the world, and in determining the limits of thought; and the status of "grand narratives" such as religion, science, or Marxism in a postmodern world that is increasingly complex, skeptical, and pluralistic. During a century when traditional social, moral, and religious beliefs have been lost or greatly weakened, French thinkers have explored, among other things, the ethical implications of living in a world that seems to have no meaning or purpose; they have closely scrutinized the changing nature of political power and analyzed the individual's potential for resistance; and, largely through feminist, gay, and lesbian thinkers, they have helped to redefine our understanding of gender and sexuality.

Another important feature is the responsiveness of French intellectuals to the forces shaping the modern world. In part at least, modern French thought can be seen as a series of reflections on the major events of national and international history—on two world wars, on the rise of Fascism and Communism in the interwar years, on colonial struggles for independence, on the postwar rise and fall of revolutionary Marxism, on the plight of minorities, on the social unrest reflected in the protests of May 1968, and on the spread of global capitalism. This responsiveness to events is also seen in a willingness to engage directly in social and political action, a characteristic role of French intellectuals since eighteenth century that was given fresh impetus by the Dreyfus affair. Both right-wing and left-wing intellectuals have formed action groups, written for journals and newspapers, literally taken to the streets, and more recently used television in order to influence opinion on such issues as social injustice and the misuse of power; race, colonialism, and immigration; the need for revolution and the desire for stability; sexual politics; religious fundamentalism; the role of the mass media; and environmental issues.

French thinkers have also played a key role in French, and therefore Western, culture. It is difficult fully to appreciate twentieth-century French art and architecture, fiction, poetry and drama, music, cinema and photography without an understanding of French ideas. Often this is not simply a question of the inevitable influence of the prevailing intellectual trends: artists and writers have often consciously concerned themselves with exploring ideas through their art—the novelist François Mauriac was typical (in this, at least) when he described himself as "un métaphysicien qui travaille dans le concret." Moreover, French thinkers have themselves done likewise—the most celebrated example is Sartre, who wrote novels, plays, biography, criticism, and autobiography as an important complement to his formal philosophical works—and they have also shown a keen interest in the arts in terms of their own disciplines such as sociology, anthropology, political science, semiotics, and philosophy.

The Encyclopedia of Modern French Thought is intended to provide a wide-ranging guide to the wealth of ideas represented by these and other features, its scope being twentieth-century thought across disciplines. It will be of particular interest to those who study modern French life, ideas, and culture; but also, given the international significance of many French thinkers, to those interested in modern thought in general.

It does not include science, though it does include the philosophy of science. Novelists, dramatists, and poets are included only when they have made a contribution to debate through their essays, and have played a particularly important role in French intellectual life (for example, Breton, Gide).

By "French" thinkers is meant those who have engage in French intellectual debates in French. This includes those born and perhaps educated elsewhere: examples include Kristeva and Todorov (Bulgaria), Greimas (Lithuania), Poulet and Irigaray (Belgium), Starobinski (Switzerland). It also includes francophone intellectuals from former colonies. This is not an unthinking form of cultural neo-colonialism. Many francophone writers have engaged in French intellectual debates and often in France itself, and most received a French education. Moreover, the entries were selected and written in the full knowledge that such writers were (or are) striving to fashion their own unique intellectual, historical, cultural, and political identity, a process that involves a systematic resistance to assimilation. By contrast, because of their very different intellectual, educational and colonial history, French-Canadian thinkers are not included.

Some 150 diverse scholars have shared their expertise to create the 234 entries in this Encyclopedia of Modern French Thought. The selection of entries, which range from 1,000 to 5,000 words, is based on a desire to balance range of subjects with depth of treatment. Most are on individuals, but there are also entries that provide a different and complementary focus by looking at specific disciplines (Anthropology, Classics, Linguistics…); at influential theories, belief, and methodologies (Catholicism, Feminism, Phenomenology…); and at a number of key themes and subjects that draw together several disciplines ( Anti-humanism, Sexuality, Language…). There are also entries that provide the historical, social and political background to intellectual life (Colonialism, Journals, Historical Surveys…). A thematic table of contents delineating these can be found on page XXX.

Because some recent French writers are notorious for the difficulty of their style, which is usually a way of trying to avoid easy assimilation in the dominant forms of understanding, contributors were asked to pay close attention to clarity of exposition. This is not an attempt, however, to reduce complex, challenging, and far-reaching theories to simple, predigested summaries; concerns about the subtle power of dominant ideologies, and also about the limits of the sayable, are important. The aim, rather, as with any such project, is to encourage both student and lay reader to turn to the works in question and engage directly with their authors' ideas and strategies.

Given the close relationship between intellectual developments and both cultural and social factors, we have provided the reader with a Chronology that provides a detailed timeline of works and events in several categories: ideas, literature, music, art and architecture, film, and political/social life. As a guide to the many writers, works, and subjects in the book, there is (as noted above) a Thematic Table of Contents, and also a comprehensive, analytical Index at the end of the book. The entries on individuals contain a Biography at the end of each article, thus focusing the entry itself on that person's ideas and their impact on French thought. The entries include See Alsos to identify key links and interrelationships and Selected Writings and Further Readings, which are bibliographies to guide readers through the ever-growing wealth of literature.

Acknowledgements
I'd like to thank the advisors and contributors for their advice, encouragement, and hard work. I'd also like to thank Gordon Lee of Fitzroy Dearborn for launching the project so efficiently, and Kate Aker of Routledge for guiding it so skillfully to port.