Jean-Luc Nancy ( , ; 26 July 1940 – 23 August 2021) was a French
philosopher
A philosopher is a person who practices or investigates philosophy. The term ''philosopher'' comes from the grc, φιλόσοφος, , translit=philosophos, meaning 'lover of wisdom'. The coining of the term has been attributed to the Greek th ...
. Nancy's first book, published in 1973, was ''Le titre de la lettre'' (''The Title of the Letter'', 1992), a reading of the work of French
psychoanalyst
PsychoanalysisFrom Greek language, Greek: + . is a set of Theory, theories and Therapy, therapeutic techniques"What is psychoanalysis? Of course, one is supposed to answer that it is many things — a theory, a research method, a therapy, a bo ...
Jacques Lacan
Jacques Marie Émile Lacan (, , ; 13 April 1901 – 9 September 1981) was a French psychoanalyst and psychiatrist. Described as "the most controversial psycho-analyst since Freud", Lacan gave yearly seminars in Paris from 1953 to 1981, and pu ...
, written in collaboration with
Philippe Lacoue-Labarthe
Philippe Lacoue-Labarthe ( , ; 6 March 1940 – 28 January 2007) was a French philosopher. He was also a literary critic and translator. Lacoue-Labarthe published several influential works with his friend Jean-Luc Nancy.
Lacoue-Labarthe was ...
. Nancy is the author of works on many thinkers, including ''La remarque spéculative'' in 1973 (''The Speculative Remark'', 2001) on
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (; ; 27 August 1770 – 14 November 1831) was a German philosopher. He is one of the most important figures in German idealism and one of the founding figures of modern Western philosophy. His influence extends ...
, ''Le Discours de la syncope'' (1976) and ''L'Impératif catégorique'' (1983) on
Immanuel Kant
Immanuel Kant (, , ; 22 April 1724 – 12 February 1804) was a German philosopher and one of the central Enlightenment thinkers. Born in Königsberg, Kant's comprehensive and systematic works in epistemology, metaphysics, ethics, and ...
, ''Ego sum'' (1979) on
René Descartes
René Descartes ( or ; ; Latinized: Renatus Cartesius; 31 March 1596 – 11 February 1650) was a French philosopher, scientist, and mathematician, widely considered a seminal figure in the emergence of modern philosophy and science. Mathem ...
, and ''Le Partage des voix'' (1982) on
Martin Heidegger
Martin Heidegger (; ; 26 September 188926 May 1976) was a German philosopher who is best known for contributions to phenomenology, hermeneutics, and existentialism. He is among the most important and influential philosophers of the 20th centur ...
.
In addition to ''Le titre de la lettre'', Nancy collaborated with Lacoue-Labarthe on several other books and articles. Nancy is credited with helping to reopen the question of the ground of
community
A community is a social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place, norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a country, village, tow ...
and
politics
Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that studies ...
with his 1985 work ''La communauté désoeuvrée'' (''The Inoperative Community''), following
Blanchot
Maurice Blanchot (; ; 22 September 1907 – 20 February 2003) was a French writer, philosopher and literary theorist. His work, exploring a philosophy of death alongside poetic theories of meaning and sense, bore significant influence on post- ...
's ''The Unavowable Community'' (1983) and
Agamben
Giorgio Agamben ( , ; born 22 April 1942) is an Italian philosopher best known for his work investigating the concepts of the state of exception, form-of-life (borrowed from Ludwig Wittgenstein) and '' homo sacer''. The concept of biopolitics ( ...
responded to both with ''The Coming Community'' (1990). One of the very few monographs that
Jacques Derrida
Jacques Derrida (; ; born Jackie Élie Derrida; See also . 15 July 1930 – 9 October 2004) was an Algerian-born French philosopher. He developed the philosophy of deconstruction, which he utilized in numerous texts, and which was developed t ...
ever wrote on a contemporary philosopher is ''On Touching, Jean-Luc Nancy''.
Biography
Jean-Luc Nancy graduated in philosophy in 1962 from the
University of Paris
, image_name = Coat of arms of the University of Paris.svg
, image_size = 150px
, caption = Coat of Arms
, latin_name = Universitas magistrorum et scholarium Parisiensis
, motto = ''Hic et ubique terrarum'' (Latin)
, mottoeng = Here and a ...
. He taught for a short while in
Colmar
Colmar (, ; Alsatian: ' ; German during 1871–1918 and 1940–1945: ') is a city and commune in the Haut-Rhin department and Grand Est region of north-eastern France. The third-largest commune in Alsace (after Strasbourg and Mulhouse), it is ...
before becoming an assistant at the
Strasbourg
Strasbourg (, , ; german: Straßburg ; gsw, label=Bas Rhin Alsatian, Strossburi , gsw, label=Haut Rhin Alsatian, Strossburig ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France and the official seat of the Eu ...
Institut de Philosophie in 1968. In 1973, he received his
doctorate
A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''l ...
with a dissertation on Kant under the supervision of
Paul Ricœur
Jean Paul Gustave Ricœur (; ; 27 February 1913 – 20 May 2005) was a French philosopher best known for combining phenomenological description with hermeneutics. As such, his thought is within the same tradition as other major hermeneutic ...
. Nancy was then promoted to ''Maître de conférences'' (associate professor) at the
Université des Sciences Humaines de Strasbourg. In the 1970s and 1980s, Nancy was a guest professor at universities all over the world, from the
University of California
The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Francisco, ...
to the
Freie Universität in
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
. He has been invited as a cultural delegate of the French Ministry of External Affairs to speak in
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is a subregion of the Europe, European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russ ...
,
Britain
Britain most often refers to:
* The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands
* Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...
and the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
. In 1987, Nancy became a ''
Docteur d'État'' at the
Université de Toulouse-Le-Mirail for a thesis on freedom in Heidegger under the supervision of
Gérard Granel
Gérard Granel (; 1930 – 10 November 2000) was a French philosopher and translator.
Life and work
Born in Paris, Granel attended the lycée Louis-le-Grand and the courses of Michel Alexandre, Jean Hyppolite and, later, of Louis Althusser ...
. The jury was composed of
Jean-François Lyotard
Jean-François Lyotard (; ; ; 10 August 1924 – 21 April 1998) was a French philosopher, sociologist, and literary theorist. His interdisciplinary discourse spans such topics as epistemology and communication, the human body, modern art and ...
and
Jacques Derrida
Jacques Derrida (; ; born Jackie Élie Derrida; See also . 15 July 1930 – 9 October 2004) was an Algerian-born French philosopher. He developed the philosophy of deconstruction, which he utilized in numerous texts, and which was developed t ...
. It was published as ''L'expérience de la liberté'' (1988).
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Nancy suffered serious medical problems. He underwent a
heart transplant
A heart transplant, or a cardiac transplant, is a surgical transplant procedure performed on patients with end-stage heart failure or severe coronary artery disease when other medical or surgical treatments have failed. , the most common proce ...
and his recovery was made more difficult by a long-term cancer diagnosis. He stopped teaching and participating in almost all of the committees with which he was engaged, but continued to write. Many of his best known texts were published during this time. An account of his experience, ''L'intrus'' (''The Intruder''), was published in 2000. Nancy was a professor at the
University of Strasbourg
The University of Strasbourg (french: Université de Strasbourg, Unistra) is a public research university located in Strasbourg, Alsace, France, with over 52,000 students and 3,300 researchers.
The French university traces its history to the ea ...
. Nancy was also
Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel Chair and Professor of Philosophy at The
European Graduate School
The European Graduate School (EGS) is a private graduate school that operates in two locations: Saas-Fee, Switzerland, and Valletta, Malta.
History
It was founded in 1994 in Saas-Fee, Switzerland by the Swiss scientist, artist, and therapist, Pao ...
.
Filmmaker
Claire Denis
Claire Denis (; born 21 April 1946) is a French film director and screenwriter. Her feature film ''Beau Travail'' (1999) has been called one of the greatest films of the 1990s, as well as of all time. Other acclaimed works include '' Trouble Ev ...
has made at least two movies inspired by Jean-Luc Nancy and his works. Many other artists have worked with Nancy as well, such as
Simon Hantaï
Simon Hantaï (7 December 1922, Biatorbágy, Hungary – Paris, 12 September 2008; took French nationality in 1966) is a painter generally associated with abstract art.
Biography
After studying at the Budapest School of Fine Art, he traveled ...
,
Soun-gui Kim and
Phillip Warnell. Nancy has written about the filmmaker
Abbas Kiarostami
Abbas Kiarostami ( fa, عباس کیارستمی ; 22 June 1940 – 4 July 2016) was an Iranian film director, screenwriter, poet, photographer, and film producer. An active filmmaker from 1970, Kiarostami had been involved in the production of ...
and featured prominently in the film ''
The Ister''.
Nancy died on 23 August 2021 at the age of 81.
Major works
''Les Fins de l'homme''
In 1980, Nancy and Lacoue-Labarthe organized a conference at
Centre culturel international de Cerisy-la-Salle
The Château de Cerisy-la-Salle, located in the French commune of Cerisy-la-Salle (in the Manche ''département'', region of Normandy
Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Norma ...
on Derrida and politics entitled "Les Fins de l'homme" ("The Ends of Man"). The conference solidified Derrida's place at the forefront of contemporary philosophy, and was a place to begin an in-depth conversation between philosophy and contemporary politics. Further to their desire to rethink the political, Nancy and Lacoue-Labarthe set up in the same year the ''Centre de Recherches Philosophiques sur la Politique'' (Centre for Philosophical Research on the Political). The Centre was dedicated to pursuing philosophical rather than empirical approaches to political questions, and supported such speakers as
Claude Lefort
Claude Lefort (; ; 21 April 1924 – 3 October 2010) was a French philosopher and activist.
He was politically active by 1942 under the influence of his tutor, the phenomenologist Maurice Merleau-Ponty (whose posthumous publications Lefort lat ...
and
Jean-François Lyotard
Jean-François Lyotard (; ; ; 10 August 1924 – 21 April 1998) was a French philosopher, sociologist, and literary theorist. His interdisciplinary discourse spans such topics as epistemology and communication, the human body, modern art and ...
. By 1984, however, Nancy and Lacoue-Labarthe were dissatisfied with the direction work at the centre was taking, and it was closed down.
During that period Lacoue-Labarthe and Nancy produced several important papers, together and separately. Some of these texts appear in ''Les Fins de l'homme à partir du travail de Jacques Derrida: colloque de Cerisy, 23 juillet-2 août 1980'' (1981), ''Rejouer le politique'' (1981), ''La retrait du politique'' (1983), and ''Le mythe nazi'' (1991, revised edition; originally published as ''Les méchanismes du fascisme'', 1981). Many of these texts are gathered in translation in ''Retreating the Political'' (1997).
''La Communauté désœuvrée''
Nancy's first book on the question of
community
A community is a social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place, norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a country, village, tow ...
, ''La Communauté désœuvrée'' (''The Inoperative Community'', 1986), is perhaps his best-known work. This text is an introduction to some of the main philosophical themes Nancy continued to work with. Nancy traces the influence of the notion of community to concepts of
experience
Experience refers to conscious events in general, more specifically to perceptions, or to the practical knowledge and familiarity that is produced by these conscious processes. Understood as a conscious event in the widest sense, experience involv ...
,
discourse
Discourse is a generalization of the notion of a conversation to any form of communication. Discourse is a major topic in social theory, with work spanning fields such as sociology, anthropology, continental philosophy, and discourse analysis. ...
, and the
individual
An individual is that which exists as a distinct entity. Individuality (or self-hood) is the state or quality of being an individual; particularly (in the case of humans) of being a person unique from other people and possessing one's own Maslow ...
, and argues that it has dominated modern thought. Discarding popular notions, Nancy redefines community, asking what can it be if it is reduced neither to a collection of separate individuals, nor to a
hypostasized communal substance, e.g.,
fascism
Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, ultra-nationalist political ideology and movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and political and cultural liberalism, a belief in natural social hierarchy an ...
. He writes that our attempt to design
society
A society is a group of individuals involved in persistent social interaction, or a large social group sharing the same spatial or social territory, typically subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations. Socie ...
according to pre-planned definitions frequently leads to social violence and
political terror
Terror (from French ''terreur'', from Latin ''terror'' "great fear", ''terrere'' "to frighten") is a policy of political repression and violence intended to subdue political opposition. The term was first used for the Reign of Terror during the ...
, posing the social and political question of how to proceed with the development of society with this knowledge in mind. ''La Communauté désœuvrée'' means that community is not the result of a production, be it social, economic or even political (
nationalist
Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: The ...
) production; it is not ''une
œuvre
Oeuvre(s) or Œuvre(s) may refer to:
* A work of art; or, more commonly, the body of work of a creator
Books
* ''L'Œuvre'', a novel by Émile Zola
* ''Œuvres'', a work by Emil Cioran
* ''Œuvres'', a work by Auguste Brizeux
* ''Oeuvres'', a wor ...
'', a "work of art" ("œuvre d'art", but "art" is here understood in the sense of "artifice").
''L'Expérience de la liberté''
Nancy's dissertation for his ''
Doctorat d'État
Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in many European countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excellence in research, teaching and further education, usually including a ...
'' looked at the works of Kant,
Schelling Schelling is a surname. Notable persons with that name include:
* Caroline Schelling (1763–1809), German intellectual
* Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling (1775–1854), German philosopher
* Felix Emanuel Schelling (1858–1945), American educat ...
,
Sartre
Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre (, ; ; 21 June 1905 – 15 April 1980) was one of the key figures in the philosophy of existentialism (and phenomenology), a French playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and litera ...
and Heidegger, and concentrated on their treatment of the topic of
freedom
Freedom is understood as either having the ability to act or change without constraint or to possess the power and resources to fulfill one's purposes unhindered. Freedom is often associated with liberty and autonomy in the sense of "giving on ...
. It was published in 1988 as ''L'Expérience de la Liberté'' (''The Experience of Freedom''). Since then, Nancy has continued to concentrate on developing a reorientation of Heidegger's work. Nancy treats freedom as a
property
Property is a system of rights that gives people legal control of valuable things, and also refers to the valuable things themselves. Depending on the nature of the property, an owner of property may have the right to consume, alter, share, r ...
of the individual or collectivity, and looks for a "non-subjective" freedom which would attempt to think the
existential
Existentialism ( ) is a form of philosophical inquiry that explores the problem of human existence and centers on human thinking, feeling, and acting. Existentialist thinkers frequently explore issues related to the meaning, purpose, and value ...
or
finite
Finite is the opposite of infinite. It may refer to:
* Finite number (disambiguation)
* Finite set, a set whose cardinality (number of elements) is some natural number
* Finite verb, a verb form that has a subject, usually being inflected or marked ...
origin for every freedom. Nancy argues that it is necessary to think freedom in its finite being, because to think of it as the property of an infinite subject is to make any finite being a limit of freedom. The existence of the other is the necessary condition of freedom, rather than its limitation.
''Le sens du monde''
Nancy addresses the
world
In its most general sense, the term "world" refers to the totality of entities, to the whole of reality or to everything that is. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the worl ...
in its contemporary global configuration in other writings on freedom, justice and sovereignty. In his 1993 book ''Le sens du monde'' (''The Sense of the World''), he asks what we mean by saying that we live in one world, and how our sense of the world is changed by saying that it is situated within the world, rather than above or apart from it. To Nancy, the world, or
existence
Existence is the ability of an entity to interact with reality. In philosophy, it refers to the ontology, ontological Property (philosophy), property of being.
Etymology
The term ''existence'' comes from Old French ''existence'', from Medieval ...
, is our
ontological
In metaphysics, ontology is the philosophical study of being, as well as related concepts such as existence, becoming, and reality.
Ontology addresses questions like how entities are grouped into categories and which of these entities exis ...
responsibility, which precedes political, judicial and moral responsibility. He describes our being in the world as an exposure to a naked existence, without the possibility of support by a fundamental metaphysical order or cause. Contemporary existence no longer has recourse to a divine framework, as was the case in feudal society where the meaning and course of life was predetermined. The
contingency of our naked existence as an ontological question is the main challenge of our existence in contemporary global society.
All of these themes relating to world are taken up again by Nancy in his 2002 book ''La création du monde ou la mondialisation'' (''The Creation of the World or Globalization''), where he makes the distinction between globalization as a deterministic process and mondialisation as an open-ended "world-forming" process. Here, he connects his critique with
Marx
Karl Heinrich Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist, critic of political economy, and socialist revolutionary. His best-known titles are the 1848 p ...
's
critique of political economy
Critique of political economy or critique of economy is a form of Social criticism, social critique that rejects the various social categories and structures that constitute the mainstream discourse concerning the forms and modalities of resourc ...
, which saw "free labour" as what produces the world. Nancy argues that an authentic "dwelling" in the world must be concerned with the creation of meaning (enjoyment) and not final purposes, closed essences, and exclusive worldviews. The present system of expanding cities and nodes in the planetary techno-scientific network (tied to capitalism) leads to the loss of world, because the world is treated as an object (globe), even though the self-deconstruction of
ontotheology Ontotheology means the ontology of God and/or the theology of being. While the term was first used by Immanuel Kant, it has only come into broader philosophical parlance with the significance it took for Martin Heidegger's later thought. While, for ...
increasingly made it the "subject" of its own creation.
''Être singulier pluriel''
In his book ''Être singulier pluriel'' (''Being Singular Plural'', 2000), Nancy tackles the question of how we can speak of a plurality of a "we" without making the "we" a singular identity. The premise of the title essay in this book is that there is no being without "being-with," that "I" does not come before "we" (i.e., ''Dasein'' does not precede ''Mitsein'') and that there is no existence without co-existence. In an extension from his thoughts on freedom, community, and the sense of the world, he imagines the "being-with" as a mutual exposure to one another that preserves the freedom of the "I", and thus a community that is not subject to an exterior or pre-existent definition.
The five essays that follow the title piece continue to develop Nancy's philosophy through discussions of sovereignty,
war
War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...
and
technology
Technology is the application of knowledge to reach practical goals in a specifiable and reproducible way. The word ''technology'' may also mean the product of such an endeavor. The use of technology is widely prevalent in medicine, science, ...
,
ecotechnics
Ecotechnics is defined as the 'techne' of bodies. Ecotechnics thinks of the body as a technology which makes possible the inclusion of a whole new range of bodies. This gives people more agency and biopower over their own use of their bodies. This ...
,
identity
Identity may refer to:
* Identity document
* Identity (philosophy)
* Identity (social science)
* Identity (mathematics)
Arts and entertainment Film and television
* ''Identity'' (1987 film), an Iranian film
* ''Identity'' (2003 film), ...
, the
Gulf War
The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Iraq were carried out in two key phases: ...
and
Sarajevo
Sarajevo ( ; cyrl, Сарајево, ; ''see Names of European cities in different languages (Q–T)#S, names in other languages'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 275,524 in its a ...
. Nancy's central concern in these essays remains the "being-with", which he uses to discuss issues of
psychoanalysis
PsychoanalysisFrom Greek: + . is a set of theories and therapeutic techniques"What is psychoanalysis? Of course, one is supposed to answer that it is many things — a theory, a research method, a therapy, a body of knowledge. In what might b ...
, politics and
multiculturalism
The term multiculturalism has a range of meanings within the contexts of sociology, political philosophy, and colloquial use. In sociology and in everyday usage, it is a synonym for "Pluralism (political theory), ethnic pluralism", with the tw ...
, looking at notions of "
self
The self is an individual as the object of that individual’s own reflective consciousness. Since the ''self'' is a reference by a subject to the same subject, this reference is necessarily subjective. The sense of having a self—or ''selfhood ...
" and "other" in current contexts.
Artistic analysis
Nancy has also written for art catalogues and international art journals, especially on contemporary art. He also writes poetry and for the theatre and has earned respect as an influential philosopher of art and culture. In his book ''Les Muses'' published in 1994 (''The Muses'', 1996), he begins with an analysis of Hegel's thesis on the death of art. Among the essays in ''The Muses'' is a piece on
Caravaggio
Michelangelo Merisi (Michele Angelo Merigi or Amerighi) da Caravaggio, known as simply Caravaggio (, , ; 29 September 1571 – 18 July 1610), was an Italian painter active in Rome for most of his artistic life. During the final four years of hi ...
, originally a lecture given at the
Louvre
The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...
. In this essay, Nancy looks for a different conception of
painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ...
where painting is not a
representation
Representation may refer to:
Law and politics
*Representation (politics), political activities undertaken by elected representatives, as well as other theories
** Representative democracy, type of democracy in which elected officials represent a ...
of the
empirical
Empirical evidence for a proposition is evidence, i.e. what supports or counters this proposition, that is constituted by or accessible to sense experience or experimental procedure. Empirical evidence is of central importance to the sciences and ...
world, but a presentation of the world, of sense, or of existence. Nancy has published books on
film
A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...
and
music
Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspect ...
, as well as texts on the problem of representation, on the statute of
literature
Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include ...
, on
image
An image is a visual representation of something. It can be two-dimensional, three-dimensional, or somehow otherwise feed into the visual system to convey information. An image can be an artifact, such as a photograph or other two-dimensiona ...
and
violence
Violence is the use of physical force so as to injure, abuse, damage, or destroy. Other definitions are also used, such as the World Health Organization's definition of violence as "the intentional use of physical force or Power (social and p ...
, and on the work of
On Kawara
was a Japanese conceptual artist who lived in New York City from 1965. He took part in many solo and group exhibitions, including the Venice Biennale in 1976.
Early life
Kawara was born in Kariya, Japan on December 24, 1932. After graduating fro ...
,
Charles Baudelaire
Charles Pierre Baudelaire (, ; ; 9 April 1821 – 31 August 1867) was a French poetry, French poet who also produced notable work as an essayist and art critic. His poems exhibit mastery in the handling of rhyme and rhythm, contain an exoticis ...
, and
Friedrich Hölderlin
Johann Christian Friedrich Hölderlin (, ; ; 20 March 1770 – 7 June 1843) was a German poet and philosopher. Described by Norbert von Hellingrath as "the most German of Germans", Hölderlin was a key figure of German Romanticism. Part ...
.
Film theory
Nancy's text ''
L'intrus
''The Intruder'' (french: L'intrus) is a 2004 French drama film directed by Claire Denis. The film had its world premiere in the Competition section at the 61st Venice International Film Festival on 9 September 2004. It was released in France on ...
'' formed the basis for French director
Claire Denis's film of the same name.
He has written extensively on film, including ''The Evidence of Film,'' a short work on
Abbas Kiarostami
Abbas Kiarostami ( fa, عباس کیارستمی ; 22 June 1940 – 4 July 2016) was an Iranian film director, screenwriter, poet, photographer, and film producer. An active filmmaker from 1970, Kiarostami had been involved in the production of ...
.
Nancy appears in the film ''
The Ister'', based on
Martin Heidegger's 1942 lectures on
Friedrich Hölderlin's poem "Der Ister" (published as ''
Hölderlin's Hymn "The Ister"
''Hölderlin's Hymn "The Ister"'' (german: Hölderlins Hymne »Der Ister«) is the title given to a lecture course delivered by German philosopher Martin Heidegger at the University of Freiburg in 1942. It was first published in 1984 as volume 53 ...
''). The film focuses on the relation of politics, technology and myth.
Nancy has developed three films in conjunction with artist-filmmaker Phillip Warnell. He appears in their 2009 film Outlandish: 'Strange Foreign Bodies', which also features a text he wrote specifically for the project, Étranges Corps Étrangers. Nancy contributed a poem, 'Oh The Animals of Language' to Warnell's 2014 feature-length film 'Ming of Harlem: Twenty One Storeys in the Air'. Warnell and Nancy worked on a new text-film collaboration which was completed in 2017, 'The Flying Proletarian'.
Bibliography
Titles in French
* ''La Remarque spéculative (Un bon mot de Hegel)''. Paris: Galilée, 1973.
* ''La titre de la lettre''. Paris: Galilée, 1973 (with Philippe Lacoue-Labarthe).
* ''Le Discours de la syncope. I. Logodaedalus''. Paris: Flammarion, 1975.
* ''L'absolu littéraire. Théorie de la littérature du romantisme allemand''. Paris: Seuil, 1978 (with Philippe Lacoue-Labarthe).
* ''Ego sum''. Paris: Flammarion, 1979.
* ''Les Fins de l'homme à partir du travail de Jacques Derrida: colloque de Cerisy, 23 juillet-2 août 1980''. 1981 (ed., with Lacoue-Labarthe).
* ''Rejouer le politique''. 1981 (ed., with Lacoue-Labarthe).
* ''Le partage des voix''. Paris: Galilée, 1982.
* ''La retrait du politique''. 1983 (ed., with Lacoue-Labarthe).
* ''La communauté désoeuvrée''. Paris: Christian Bourgois, 1983.
* ''L'Impératif catégorique''. Paris: Flammarion, 1983.
* ''L'oubli de la philosophie''. Paris: Galilée, 1986.
* ''Des lieux divins''. Mauvezin: T.E.R, 1987.
* ''L'expérience de la liberté''. Paris: Galilée, 1988.
* ''Une Pensée finie''. Paris: Galilée, 1990.
* ''Le poids d'une pensée''. Québec: Le griffon d'argile, 1991.
* ''Le mythe nazi''. La tour d'Aigues: L'Aube, 1991 (with Philippe Lacoue-Labarthe, revised edition; originally published as ''Les méchanismes du fascisme'', 1981).
* ''La comparution (politique à venir)''. Paris: Bourgois, 1991 (with Jean-Chrisophe Bailly).
* ''Corpus''. Paris: Métailié, 1992.
* ''Le sens du monde''. Paris: Galilée, 1993.
* ''Les Muses''. Paris: Galilée, 1994.
* ''Être singulier pluriel''. Paris: Galilée, 1996.
* ''Hegel. L'inquiétude du négatif''. Paris: Hachette, 1997.
* ''L'Intrus''. Paris: Galilée, 2000.
* ''Le regard du portrait''. Paris: Galilée, 2000.
* ''Conloquium'', in
Roberto Esposito
Roberto Esposito (Piano di Sorrento, 4 August 1950) is an Italian political philosopher, critical theorist, and professor, notable for his academic research and works on biopolitics. He currently serves as professor of theoretical philosophy at t ...
, ''Communitas''. trad. de Nadine Le Lirzin, Paris: PUF, 2000.
* ''La pensée dérobée''. Paris: Galilée, 2001.
* ''The evidence of film''. Bruxelles: Yves Gevaert, 2001.
* ''La création du monde ou la mondialisation''. Paris: Galilée, 2002.
* ''À l’écoute''. Paris: Galilée, 2002.
* ''Nus sommes. La peau des images''. Paris: Klincksieck, 2003 (with Federico Ferrari).
* ''Noli me tangere''. Paris: Bayard, 2003.
* "L'extension de l'âme". Metz: Le Portique, 2003.
* "L''il y a' du rapport sexuel". Paris: Galilée, 2003.
* ''La déclosion (Déconstruction du Christianisme 1)''. Paris: Galilée, 2005.
* ''Sur le commerce des pensées: Du livre et de la librairie''. Paris: Galilée, 2005.
* ''Iconographie de l'auteur''. Paris: Galilée, 2005 (with Federico Ferrari).
* ''Tombe de sommeil''. Paris: Galilée, 2007.
* ''Juste impossible''. Paris: Bayard, 2007.
* ''À plus d'un titre: Jacques Derrida''. Paris: Galilée, 2007.
* ''Vérité de la democratie''. Paris: Galilée, 2008.
* ''Le poids d'une pensée, l'approche''. Strasbourg: La Phocide, 2008.
* ''Je t'aime, un peu, beaucoup, passionnément...''. Paris: Bayard Centurion, 2008.
* ''Démocratie, dans quel état ?'', with
Giorgio Agamben
Giorgio Agamben ( , ; born 22 April 1942) is an Italian philosopher best known for his work investigating the concepts of the state of exception, form-of-life (borrowed from Ludwig Wittgenstein) and '' homo sacer''. The concept of biopolitics ( ...
,
Alain Badiou
Alain Badiou (; ; born 17 January 1937) is a French philosopher, formerly chair of Philosophy at the École normale supérieure (ENS) and founder of the faculty of Philosophy of the Université de Paris VIII with Gilles Deleuze, Michel Foucau ...
,
Daniel Bensaïd
Daniel Bensaïd (25 March 1946 – 12 January 2010) was a philosopher and a leader of the Trotskyist movement in France. He became a leading figure in the student revolt of 1968, while studying at the University of Paris X: Nanterre.
Life and ...
,
Wendy Brown,
Jacques Rancière
Jacques Rancière (; born 10 June 1940) is a French philosopher, Professor of Philosophy at European Graduate School in Saas-Fee and Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at the University of Paris VIII: Vincennes—Saint-Denis. After co-authoring '' ...
,
Kristin Ross
Kristin Ross (born 1953) is a professor emeritus of comparative literature at New York University. She is primarily known for her work on French literature and Culture of France, culture of the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries.
Life and work
Ross re ...
and
Slavoj Žižek
Slavoj Žižek (, ; ; born 21 March 1949) is a Slovenian philosopher, cultural theorist and public intellectual. He is international director of the Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities at the University of London, visiting professor at New Y ...
, La Fabrique, 2009.
* ''L'Adoration'', Paris, Galilée, 2010.
* ''Atlan : les détrempes'', Paris, Hazan, 2010.
* ''À ''Vengeance ?'' de Robert Antelme'', in
Robert Antelme
Robert Antelme (5 January 1917, Sartène, Corse-du-Sud – 26 October 1990) was a French writer. During the Second World War he was involved in the French Resistance and deported.
In 1939 he married Marguerite Duras. Their child died at birth in 1 ...
, ''Vengeance ?''. Hermann, 2010.
* ''La Ville au loin''. Strasbourg: La Phocide, 2011.
* ''Maurice Blanchot, passion politique''. Paris: Galilée, 2011.
* ''Politique et au-delà''. Interview with Philipp Armstrong and Jason E. Smith, Paris: Galilée, 2011.
* ''Dans quels mondes vivons-nous?'', with Aurélien Barrau, Paris: Galilée, 2011.
* ''L’Équivalence des catastrophes (Après Fukushima)'', Paris: Galilée, 2012.
* ''La Possibilité d'un monde'', Paris: Les petits platons, 2013.
* ''Jamais le mot "créateur"...'', with
Simon Hantaï
Simon Hantaï (7 December 1922, Biatorbágy, Hungary – Paris, 12 September 2008; took French nationality in 1966) is a painter generally associated with abstract art.
Biography
After studying at the Budapest School of Fine Art, he traveled ...
, Paris, Galilée, 2013.
* ''L’Autre Portrait'', Paris, Galilée, 2013.
* ''Être singulier pluriel'', nouvelle édition augmentée, Paris, Galilée, 2013.
* ''Le Philosophe boiteux'', Le Havre, Franciscopolis/Presses du réel, 2014.
* ''La Jouissance. Questions de caractère'', with
Adèle Van Reeth, Paris, Plon, 2014.
* ''La Communauté désavouée'', Paris, Galilée, 2014.
* ''Inventions à deux voix. Entretiens'', with
Danielle Cohen-Levinas
Danielle Cohen-Levinas (born 21 April 1959 in Paris) is a French philosopher, musicologist, and a specialist of Jewish philosophy.
Biography
A pianist by training and former graduate of the Conservatoire de Paris, Danielle Cohen-Levinas followe ...
, Paris, Éditions du Félin, 2015.
* ''Proprement dit : Entretien sur le mythe'', with Mathilde Girard, Paris, Lignes, 2015.
* ''Journal des Phéniciennes'', Paris, Christian Bourgois, 2015.
* ''Banalité de Heidegger'', Paris, Galilée, 2015.
* ''Demande : Littérature et philosophie'', Paris, Galilée, 2015.
* ''Entretien sur le christianisme'' (Paris, 2008), with
Bernard Stiegler
Bernard Stiegler (; 1 April 1952 – 5 August 2020) was a French philosopher. He was head of the Institut de recherche et d'innovation (IRI), which he founded in 2006 at the Centre Georges-Pompidou. He was also the founder in 2005 of the politi ...
and
Alain Jugnon Alain may refer to:
People
* Alain (given name), common given name, including list of persons and fictional characters with the name
* Alain (surname)
* "Alain", a pseudonym for cartoonist Daniel Brustlein
* Alain, a standard author abbreviation u ...
, in: Bernard Stiegler, ''Dans la disruption : Comment ne pas devenir fou ?'', Paris, Les Liens qui Libèrent, 2016.
* ''Que faire ?'', Paris, Galilée, 2016.
* ''Signaux sensibles'', ''entretien à propos des arts'', with Jérôme Lèbre, Paris, Bayard, 2017.
* ''La Tradition allemande dans la philosophie'', with
Alain Badiou
Alain Badiou (; ; born 17 January 1937) is a French philosopher, formerly chair of Philosophy at the École normale supérieure (ENS) and founder of the faculty of Philosophy of the Université de Paris VIII with Gilles Deleuze, Michel Foucau ...
, Paris, Éditions Lignes, 2017.
* ''Sexistence'', Paris, Galilée, 2017.
* ''Exclu le Juif en nous'', Paris, Galilée, 2018.
* ''Hegel, l'inquiétude du négatif'', Paris, Galilée, 2018.
* ''Derrida, suppléments'', Paris, Galilée, 2019.
* ''La peau fragile du monde'', Paris, Galilée, 2020.
* ''Mascarons de Macron'', Paris, Galilée, 2021.
* ''Cruor'', Paris, Galilée, 2021.
English translations
* ''The Literary Absolute: The Theory of Literature in German Romanticism''. With Philippe Lacoue-Labarthe. Albany: SUNY Press, 1988.
* ''The Inoperative Community''. Minneapolis:
University of Minnesota Press
The University of Minnesota Press is a university press that is part of the University of Minnesota. It had annual revenues of just over $8 million in fiscal year 2018.
Founded in 1925, the University of Minnesota Press is best known for its book ...
, 1991.
* ''The Title of the Letter: A Reading of Lacan''. With Philippe Lacoue-Labarthe. Albany: SUNY Press, 1992.
* ''The Birth to Presence''. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1993.
* ''The Experience of Freedom''. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1993.
* ''The Muses''. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1996.
* ''The Gravity of Thought''. New Jersey: Humanities Press, 1997.
* ''Retreating the Political''. With Philippe Lacoue-Labarthe; edited by Simon Sparks. London: Routledge, 1997.
* ''The Sense of the World''. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1998.
* ''Being Singular Plural''. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2000.
* ''The Speculative Remark: One of Hegel's Bons Mots''. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2001.
* ''Hegel: The Restlessness of the Negative''. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2002.
* ''A Finite Thinking''. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2003
* ''The Ground of the Image''. New York: Fordham University Press, 2005.
* ''Multiple Arts (The Muses II)''. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2006.
* ''The Creation of the World or Globalization''. Albany: SUNY Press, 2007.
* ''Listening''. New York: Fordham University Press, 2007.
* ''The Discourse of the Syncope: Logodaedalus''. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2007.
* ''Dis-Enclosure: The Deconstruction of Christianity''. New York: Fordham University Press, 2008.
* ''Philosophical Chronicles (Perspectives in Continental Philosophy)''. New York: Fordham University Press, 2008.
* ''Noli Me Tangere: On the Raising of the Body''. New York: Fordham University Press, 2008.
* ''Corpus''. New York: Fordham University Press, 2008.
* ''On the Commerce of Thinking: On Books and Bookstores''. New York: Fordham University Press, 2009.
* ''The Fall of Sleep''. New York: Fordham University Press, 2009.
* ''The Truth of Democracy''. New York: Fordham University Press, 2010.
* ''God, Justice, Love, Beauty: Four Little Dialogues''. New York: Fordham University Press, 2011.
* ''In Place of Utopia''. In ''Existential Utopia: New Perspectives on Utopian Thought''. New York & London: Continuum, 2012.
*''Adoration: The Deconstruction of Christianity II''. New York: Fordham University Press, 2012.
*''The Pleasure in Drawing''. New York: Fordham University Press, 2013.
* ''Being Nude. The Skin of Images''. With Federico Ferrari; New York: Fordham University Press, 2014.
* ''The Disavowed Community''. New York: Fordham University Press, 2016.
* ''Foreword'' of ''Gandhi and Philosophy: On Theological Anti-politics'', London:
Bloomsbury Academic
Bloomsbury Publishing plc is a British worldwide publishing house of fiction and non-fiction. It is a constituent of the FTSE SmallCap Index. Bloomsbury's head office is located in Bloomsbury, an area of the London Borough of Camden. It has a ...
, 2018.
* ''Dies Irae''. London: University of Westminster Press, 2019.
* "A Passing." New York: Contra Mundum Press, 2020. Introduction to Marguerite Duras, ''The Darkroom''.
* ''Sexistence''. New York: Fordham University Press, 2021.
See also
*
List of thinkers influenced by deconstruction
This is a list of thinkers who have been dealt with deconstruction, a term developed by French philosopher Jacques Derrida (1930-2004).
__NOTOC__
The thinkers included in this list ''have Wikipedia pages'' and satisfy at least one of the three ...
References
Further reading
* Alexandrova, Alena, ed. ''Re-treating Religion: Deconstructing Christianity with Jean-Luc Nancy.'' New York: Fordham University Press, 2012.
* Armstrong, Phillip. ''Reticulations: Jean-Luc Nancy and the Networks of the Political''. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2009.
And the Beginning of Philosophy Mohan, Shaj, ''Philosophy World Democracy''
* Derrida, Jacques. ''On Touching, Jean-Luc Nancy''. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2005.
Nancy's Wager,
Dwivedi, Divya, ''Philosophy World Democracy''.
* Garrido, Juan Manuel. ''Chances de la pensée – À partir de Jean-Luc Nancy,'' París: Galilée, “La Philosophie en effet”, 2011.
* Garrido, Juan Manuel. “The Poetry of the World," in ''Diacritics'', Vol 43 (4), pp. 52–64, 2016.
* Garrido, Juan Manuel. “La poésie du monde”, in ''Po&sie'', n. 149-159, 3ème et 4ème trim. 2014, pp. 233–238.
* Garrido, Juan Manuel. “Jean-Luc Nancy’s Concept of Body”, Epoché - A Journal for the History of Philosophy, Volume 14, Issue 1 (Fall 2009), 189-211.
* Garrido, Juan Manuel.“Le corps insacrifiable”, Europe, París, 2009, 277-283.
* Garrido, Juan Manuel
"La mutation infinie du sens" ''Les Cahiers Philosophiques de Strasbourg'', 42, 2017.
* Hörl, Erich. 'The Artificial Intelligence of Sense. The History of Sense and Technology After Jean-Luc Nancy (by way of Simondon).' In: Parrhesia, no. 17, 2013, pp. 11–24.
* Hutchens, B. C. ''Jean-Luc Nancy and the Future of Philosophy''. Montreal & Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2005.
* Hutchens, B. C., ed. ''Jean-Luc Nancy: Justice, Legality, and World.'' New York: Continuum, 2012.
* James, Ian. ''The Fragmentary Demand: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Jean-Luc Nancy''. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2006.
* Kamuf, Peggy, ed. ''On the Work of Jean-Luc Nancy: A Special Issue of Paragraph''. Nov. 1992.
* Martin, Jean-Clet, ed. ''Sens en tous sens'', (with Jean-Luc Nancy, Alain Badiou, Jacques Derrida...), Paris, Galilée, 2004.
*
Mohan, Shaj,
The Marvelous Births of Jean-Luc Nancy, European Journal of Psychoanalysis
* Morin, Marie-Eve. ''Jean-Luc Nancy.'' Cambridge: Polity, 2012.
* Sparks, Simon, ed. ''On Jean-Luc Nancy: The Sense of Philosophy''. London: Routledge, 1997.
* Tuppini, Tommaso. ''Jean-Luc Nancy. Le forme della comunicazione''. Roma: Carocci 2012.
* ''At the Heart: of Jean-Luc Nancy''. ''A Special Issue of The New Centennial Review'', Vol. 2, no.3, Fall 2002.
External links
Jean-Luc Nancyarticle at
Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
The ''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' (''IEP'') is a scholarly online encyclopedia, dealing with philosophy, philosophical topics, and philosophers. The IEP combines open access publication with peer reviewed publication of original pape ...
.
The Grace of Jean-Luc Nancy tributes by friends and colleagues on ''Philosophy World Democracy''
“The End of Philosophy and the Task of Thinking”by Jean-Luc Nancy
"La fin de la philosophie et la tâche de la pensée"by Jean-Luc Nancy
On Communism by Nancy.
Demosophiaby Jean-Luc Nancy
*Jean-Luc Nancy
In: Little Mag. July / August 2001.
*Emmanuel Alloa
The real outside is at the heart of the inside Interview. Atopia. 2007.
*Jean-Luc Nancy
Lecture. Nouveau Musée. January 1997.
*David Patrick. .
*
Adam Kotsko
Adam Kotsko (born 1980) is an American theologian, religious scholar, culture critic, and translator, working in the field of political theology. He served as an Assistant Professor of Humanities at Shimer College in Chicago, which was absorbed in ...
Already, Not Yet. Review of La Déclosion: Déconstruction du christianisme Journal for Cultural and Religious Theory. Vol. 6, No. 3, pp. 87–95, Fall 2005.
* Jean-Luc Nancy
Interview with Jean-Luc Nancy in two parts, by Florian Forestier
*
Second part of the interview
*Federico Ferrari and Jean-Luc Nancy (translated by Filippo Pietrogrande).
What is Deconstruction? An Interview with Jean-Luc Nancy'. Derrida Today. Vol. 13, No. 2, pp. 236–253, November 2020.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nancy, Jean-Luc
1940 births
2021 deaths
University of Toulouse-Jean Jaurès alumni
University of Strasbourg faculty
European Graduate School faculty
French historians of philosophy
Continental philosophers
Phenomenologists
20th-century French philosophers
21st-century French writers
Deconstruction
Heidegger scholars
French male writers
21st-century French philosophers