Maurice Blondel (; 2 November 1861 – 4 June 1949) was a French philosopher, whose most influential works, notably ''L'Action'', aimed at establishing the correct relationship between autonomous philosophical reasoning and Christian belief.
Biography
Blondel was born in
Dijon
Dijon (, , ) (dated)
* it, Digione
* la, Diviō or
* lmo, Digion is the prefecture of the Côte-d'Or department and of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in northeastern France. the commune had a population of 156,920.
The earlies ...
in 1861. He came from a family who were traditionally connected to the legal profession, but chose early in life to follow a career in philosophy. In 1881, he gained admission to the
École Normale Supérieure
École may refer to:
* an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée)
* École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France
* École, Savoi ...
of Paris. In 1893 he finished his thesis "L'Action" (Action), a critical essay of life and of a science of the practice. He was at this time refused a teaching post (as would have been his due) because his philosophical conclusions were deemed to be too Christian and, therefore, "compromising" of philosophical reason. In 1895, however, with the help of his former teacher
Émile Boutroux
Étienne Émile Marie Boutroux (; 28 July 1845 – 22 November 1921) was an eminent 19th-century French philosopher of science and religion, and a historian of philosophy. He was a firm opponent of materialism in science. He was a spiritual p ...
, he became a ''Maître de Conférences'' at
Lille
Lille ( , ; nl, Rijsel ; pcd, Lile; vls, Rysel) is a city in the northern part of France, in French Flanders. On the river Deûle, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, region, the Pref ...
, then shortly after at
Aix-en-Provence
Aix-en-Provence (, , ; oc, label= Provençal, Ais de Provença in classical norm, or in Mistralian norm, ; la, Aquae Sextiae), or simply Aix ( medieval Occitan: ''Aics''), is a city and commune in southern France, about north of Marseille. ...
, where he became a professor in 1897. He would remain in Aix-en-Provence for the rest of his career.
In ''L'Action'', Blondel developed a "
philosophy of action
Action theory (or theory of action) is an area in philosophy concerned with theories about the processes causing willful human bodily movements of a more or less complex kind. This area of thought involves epistemology, ethics, metaphysics, j ...
" in which he applies the method of phenomenology. This leads him to the first order issue of "action", critiquing the Enlightenment enshrinement of thought, which he subsumes under the category of action. This leads him to discover the distinction between the willing will and the willed will. This distinction shows a real insufficiency between the two elements of the will. The problem of connaturality - that man cannot desire something which cannot be fulfilled - leads to investigating how the willing will can be fulfilled in the willed will. This insufficiency leads him to eventually hypothesize the supernatural as the only real possibility. He insists that this is as far as a philosopher can go, that the supernatural is the real end of man, and that the content of the supernatural is left to the realm of theology.
His subsequent works, the ''Letter on Apologetics'' and ''History and Dogma'', were also connected to the philosophical problem of religion. They unleashed an enormous controversy at the time of publication.
Pope Pius X
Pope Pius X ( it, Pio X; born Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto; 2 June 1835 – 20 August 1914) was head of the Catholic Church from 4 August 1903 to his death in August 1914. Pius X is known for vigorously opposing modernist interpretations of C ...
's 1907 encyclical ''
Pascendi dominici gregis'' targeted the
Modernist
Modernism is both a philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new forms of art, philosophy, an ...
threat to Catholic thought, and Blondel's thought remained associated (perhaps tenuously) with the Modernists. Blondel, however, was never the target of ''Pascendi'' and he received letters, through the Archbishop of Aix, from numerous Popes affirming he was not under suspicion. He did, however, have great influence on later Catholic thought, especially through ''ressourcement'' theologians such as
Henri de Lubac
Henri-Marie Joseph Sonier de Lubac (; 20 February 1896 – 4 September 1991), better known as Henri de Lubac, was a French Jesuit priest and cardinal who is considered one of the most influential theologians of the 20th century. His writin ...
.
[Michael A Conway, 'Maurice Blondel and ''Ressourcement'' ', in Gabriel Flynn and Paul D. Murray, ''Ressourcement'' (Oxford: OUP, 2012), p70.]
His wife died in 1919 and in 1927 he retired for health reasons. Between 1934 and 1937 he published a trilogy dedicated to thought, being and action. In 1935, he published an essay of concrete and integrale
ontology
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 ...
"L'être et les êtres" (''The Being and the Beings'') and in 1946 he published "L'esprit chrétien" (''The Christian Spirit'').
Blondel died in Aix-en-Provence in 1949. He was the younger brother of historian
Georges Blondel
Georges Blondel (8 March 1856 – 31 July 1948) was a French historian, specialising in the history of Germany and Austria before 1914. Born in 1856 in Dijon, France, Blondel received his doctorate in 1881 and in 1894 was named professor of lett ...
and a first cousin of physicist
André Blondel
André-Eugène Blondel (28 August 1863 – 15 November 1938) was a French engineer and physicist. He is the inventor of the electromechanical oscillograph and a system of photometric units of measurement.
Life
Blondel was born in Chaumont, Haut ...
.
Works
* ''L'Action: Essai d'une critique de la vie et d'une science de la pratique'' (Paris: Alcan, 1893); 2nd edn, Paris:
PUF
PUF may refer to:
* Physical unclonable function, in computer security, a physically-implemented secure identifier
* The University Presses of France
*Permanent University Fund, for Texas public universities
* Pau Pyrénées Airport in France (I ...
, 1950).
** ''Action (1893): Essay on a Critique of Life and a Science of Practice'', trans. Oliva Blanchette (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1984).
* ''Lettre sur les exigences de la pensée contemporaine en matiere d'aplogétique et sur la méthode de la philosophie dans l'étude du probleme religieux'' (1896) - commonly called ''La lettre'' in French, and the ''Letter on Apologetics'' in English
** ''The letter on apologetics and History and dogma'', edited and translated by Alexander Dru and
Illtyd Trethowan (London: Harvill Press, 1964)
* ''History and Dogma'' (1904)
** ''The letter on apologetics and History and dogma'', edited and translated by Alexander Dru and Illtyd Trethowan (London: Harvill Press, 1964)
* ''L'être et les êtres – Essai d'ontologie concrète et intégrale'' (1935)
lso PUF, 1963* ''L'ésprit chrétien'' (1946)
* ''Lettres philosophiques'' (Paris: Aubier, 1961)
A nine-volume edition of the complete works of Blondel is being published. Two volumes (as of 2013) have been published.
*''Oeuvres completes'', i, ed Claude Troisfontaines (Paris: PUF, 1995)
hich contains ''L'Action'', as well as a minor Latin thesis on Leibniz which accompanied ''L'Action'' in Blondel's doctoral submissions]
*''Oeuvres completes'', ii, ''1888-1913: La philosophie de l'action et la crise moderniste'', ed Claude Troisfontaines (Paris: PUF, 1997)
See also
*Modernism in the Catholic Church
References
Further reading
*
*
Peter Henrici
Peter Henrici (born 31 March 1928) is a Swiss Jesuit priest, Blondelian philosopher and professor (1960–1993) at the Gregorian University. He was Auxiliary Bishop of Chur from 1993 to 2007.
Biography
Born on 31 March 1928 at Zurich, Henrici ...
. ''Hegel und Blondel: Eine Untersuchung uber Form und Sinn der Dialektik in der 'Phanomenologie des Geistes' und der ersten 'Action'.'' Pullach bei Munchen: Berchmanskollege, 1958.
* Robert C. Koerpel. ''Maurice Blondel: Transforming Catholic Tradition''. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 2018
*
John Milbank
Alasdair John Milbank (born 23 October 1952) is an English Anglican theologian and is an Emeritus Professor in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of Nottingham, where he is President of the Centre of Theology and ...
. ''Social Theory and Theology, Second Edition''. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing, 2006. See chapter 8.
* Andreas Uwe Mueller, ''Christlicher Glaube und historische Kritik. Maurice Blondel und Alfred Loisy im Ringen um das Verhaeltnis von Schrift und Tradition.'' Freiburg, Herder, 2008.
* James Somerville, ''Total Commitment: Blondel’s L’Action'' (Washington, D.C.: Corpus, 1968).
External links
*
Centre d'archives Maurice Blondel
{{DEFAULTSORT:Blondel, Maurice
1861 births
1949 deaths
Writers from Dijon
20th-century French philosophers
French Roman Catholic writers
Writers from Bourgogne-Franche-Comté
Catholic philosophers
French male writers
French male essayists
20th-century French essayists
20th-century French male writers
École Normale Supérieure alumni