Jean Grondin (born August 27, 1955) is a
Canadian
Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...
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 ...
and professor. He is a specialist in the thought of
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 ...
,
Hans-Georg Gadamer
Hans-Georg Gadamer (; ; February 11, 1900 – March 13, 2002) was a German philosopher of the continental tradition, best known for his 1960 ''magnum opus'', '' Truth and Method'' (''Wahrheit und Methode''), on hermeneutics.
Life
Family an ...
, and
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 ...
. His research focuses on
hermeneutics
Hermeneutics () is the theory and methodology of interpretation, especially the interpretation of biblical texts, wisdom literature, and philosophical texts. Hermeneutics is more than interpretative principles or methods used when immediate c ...
,
phenomenology
Phenomenology may refer to:
Art
* Phenomenology (architecture), based on the experience of building materials and their sensory properties
Philosophy
* Phenomenology (philosophy), a branch of philosophy which studies subjective experiences and a ...
, German classical philosophy and the history of
metaphysics
Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that studies the fundamental nature of reality, the first principles of being, identity and change, space and time, causality, necessity, and possibility. It includes questions about the nature of conscio ...
.
Education and career
After completing his philosophical studies at the
University of Montreal
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, the ...
, he wrote a thesis on the concept of truth in hermeneutics in 1982 at the
University of Tübingen
The University of Tübingen, officially the Eberhard Karl University of Tübingen (german: Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen; la, Universitas Eberhardina Carolina), is a public research university located in the city of Tübingen, Baden-Wü ...
, where he also studied classical
philology
Philology () is the study of language in oral and writing, written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defin ...
and
theology
Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...
. He taught at
Université Laval
Université Laval is a public research university in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. The university was founded by royal charter issued by Queen Victoria in 1852, with roots in the founding of the Séminaire de Québec in 1663 by François de Montmo ...
, in
Quebec City
Quebec City ( or ; french: Ville de Québec), officially Québec (), is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Communauté métrop ...
from 1982 to 1990 and at the
University of Ottawa
The University of Ottawa (french: Université d'Ottawa), often referred to as uOttawa or U of O, is a bilingual public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on directly to the northeast of Downtown Ottawa ...
in the academic year 1990-1991.
Grondin has taught at the University of Montreal since 1991. In addition to his authored volumes, translated into more than twelve languages, he is also the author of many articles in various philosophical journals. His two volumes on Kant continue to be authoritative and his major contributions on the universality of hermeneutics and phenomenology place Grondin in a
Plato
Plato ( ; grc-gre, Πλάτων ; 428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 BC) was a Greek philosopher born in Athens during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. He founded the Platonist school of thought and the Academy, the first institution ...
nic philosophical tradition that goes back to Augustine and passes through Kant,
Edmund Husserl
, thesis1_title = Beiträge zur Variationsrechnung (Contributions to the Calculus of Variations)
, thesis1_url = https://fedora.phaidra.univie.ac.at/fedora/get/o:58535/bdef:Book/view
, thesis1_year = 1883
, thesis2_title ...
, Heidegger, and Gadamer. He can be seen as the principal advocate for the work of Gadamer and
Paul Ricoeur
Paul may refer to:
*Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name)
*Paul (surname), a list of people
People
Christianity
*Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chris ...
and is prominent in contemporary hermeneutics.
He was appointed an officer of the
Order of Canada
The Order of Canada (french: Ordre du Canada; abbreviated as OC) is a Canadian state order and the second-highest honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit.
To coincide with the ...
on December 30, 2012. In 2014 Jean Grondin was awarded the
Molson Prize
The Thomas Henry Pentland Molson Prize for the Arts is awarded by the Canada Council, Canada Council for the Arts. Two prizes are awarded annually to distinguished individuals. One prize is awarded in the arts, one in the social sciences and human ...
.
Influences and work
The influence of Gadamer and his
magnum opus
A masterpiece, ''magnum opus'' (), or ''chef-d’œuvre'' (; ; ) in modern use is a creation that has been given much critical praise, especially one that is considered the greatest work of a person's career or a work of outstanding creativity, ...
''
Truth and Method'' (''Warheit und Methode''; 1960) is apparent in much of Grondin's work. Grondin has also written the first intellectual biography of Gadamer, ''Hans-Georg Gadamer: A Biography''. This book was eagerly awaited in Germany, in part due to the confirmed
Nazism
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...
of Gadamer's teacher and friend, Martin Heidegger, and the question of Gadamer's own sympathies during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
.
Grondin's most well-known work is ''The Universality of Hermeneutics'' (1993), which has been translated into twelve languages. Grondin here defends the concept of a hermeneutics founded on the universality of interior language: behind discourse itself, understanding is held to be an interior sense that exceeds the limited terms of exterior language. This concept is further developed in his essay, "On the Meaning of Life"' (2003), wherein Grondin argues for an immanent meaning of life based on this internalized discourse.
Grondin has also worked extensively on
German idealism
German idealism was a philosophical movement that emerged in Germany in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. It developed out of the work of Immanuel Kant in the 1780s and 1790s, and was closely linked both with Romanticism and the revolutionary ...
, the hermeneutics of
Wilhelm Dilthey
Wilhelm Dilthey (; ; 19 November 1833 – 1 October 1911) was a German historian, psychologist, sociologist, and hermeneutic philosopher, who held G. W. F. Hegel's Chair in Philosophy at the University of Berlin. As a polymathic philosopher, w ...
and Ricoeur, the theory of interpretation put forward by
Emilio Betti
Emilio Betti (Camerino, 20 August 1890 – Camorciano di Camerino, 11 August 1968) was an Italian jurist, Roman Law scholar, philosopher and theologian. He is best known for his contributions to hermeneutics, part of a broad interest in interpreta ...
, the deconstruction of
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 ...
, and the new phenomenology of
Jean-Luc Marion
Jean-Luc Marion (born 3 July 1946) is a French philosopher and Roman Catholic theologian. Marion is a former student of Jacques Derrida whose work is informed by patristic and mystical theology, phenomenology, and modern philosophy.Horner ...
. Grondin has, in addition to this original work, produced translations of many of Gadamer's writings.
Bibliography
The following is a list of Grondin's well-known works in French and English.
* ''Kant et le problème de la philosophie: l’a priori'' (J. Vrin, 1989).
* ''L'universalité de l’herméneutique'' (PUF, 1993).
* ''Hans-Georg Gadamer: A Biography'' (Yale University Press, 2003).
* ''Du sens de la vie'' (Bellarmin, 2003).
* ''Introduction à la métaphysique'' (PUM, 2004).
* (tr: Lukas Soderstrom) ''Introduction to Metaphysics: From Parmenides to Levinas'' (Columbia University Press, 2012).
References
External links
Faculty Page at the University of OttawaBrief biography at the University of Montreal Department of Philosophy
{{DEFAULTSORT:Grondin, Jean
1955 births
Living people
Continental philosophers
20th-century Canadian philosophers
Canadian philosophers
Officers of the Order of Canada
Hermeneutists
Metaphysics writers
Gadamer scholars
Heidegger scholars
Université Laval faculty