Alain Finkielkraut

Infobox Philosopher



region = Western Philosophy
era = 20th-century philosophy
21st-century philosophy
color = #B0C4DE
name = Alain Finkielkraut
caption =
birth = birth date|1949|30|5 Paris, France flagicon|France
death =
school_tradition = History of Ideas
notable_ideas =
influences = Hannah Arendt, Emmanuel Levinas
influenced =

Alain Finkielkraut (born in Paris on June 30 1949) is a French essayist, and son of a Jewish Polish artisan manufacturing fine leather goods who was deported to Auschwitz. He currently teaches at the École polytechnique as professor of the "history of ideas and modernity" in the department of humanities and social sciences. Author of a number of books, Finkielkraut is among some of France's public intellectuals who often appear on talk shows and publish columns in the French media. Finkielkraut advocates what in France is known as a humanist standpoint; although his supposed humanism has been challenged at many times during his career and frequently deemed quite the opposite of humanism, especially by anti-conservative and liberal activists.Fact|date=May 2007 Sixty researchers and professors at the École polytechnique are known to have signed a petition to protest his alleged racist views.

Philosophy

Alain Finkielkraut studied philosophy at the École normale supérieure de Saint-Cloud. Broadly speaking, his ideas may be described as being in the same vein as those of Emmanuel Lévinas and Hannah Arendt, a filiation he has repeatedly pointed out.

Finkielkraut first came to public attention when he and Pascal Bruckner co-authored a number of short but controversial essays intended to question the idea that a new emancipation was underway; these included "The New Love Disorder" (1977) ("Le Nouveau Désordre amoureux") and "At The Corner Of The Street, The Adventure" (1979) ("Au Coin de la rue l'aventure").

Finkielkraut then began publishing singly-authored works on the public's betrayal of memory and our intransigence in the presence of events which, he argued, should move the public. This reflection led Finkielkraut to address post-Holocaust Jewish identity in Europe ("The Imaginary Jew" (1983) ("le Juif imaginaire"). Seeking to promote what he calls a duty of memory, Finkielkraut also published "The Future Of A Negation: Reflexion On The Genocide Issue"(1982) ("Avenir d'une négation : réflexion sur la question du génocide") and later his comments on the Klaus Barbie trial, "Remembering in Vain" ("La Mémoire vaine").

Finkielkraut feels particularly indebted to Emmanuel Lévinas. In "The Wisdom Of Love" ("La Sagesse de l'amour"), Finkielkraut discusses this debt in terms of modernity and its mirages. Finkielkraut continues his reflection on the matter in "The Defeat Of The Mind" (1987) ("La Défaite de la pensée"), "The Ingratitude: Talks About Our Times" (1999) ("Ingratitude : conversation sur notre temps").

Essayist on society

In recent years, Alain Finkielkraut has given his opinion on a variety of topics regarding society, for instance the Internet in "The Internet, The Troubling Ecstasy" (2001) ("Internet, l'inquiétante extase". In the book "Present Imperfect" (2002) ("L'Imparfait du présent"), akin to a personal diary, he expresses his thoughts about different events in the world (especially the events of September 11, 2001).

During the wars resulting from the breakup of Yugoslavia, he was one of the first to strongly condemn Serbian ethnic cleansing.

Controversies

His interview published in the Haaretz magazine in November 2005 in which he gave his opinion about the 2005 civil unrest in France stirred up much controversy. Finkielkraut's remarks that the French Soccer Team was "Black, Black, Black" (as opposed to the expression "Black, Blanc, Beur" - meaning "Black, White, Arab (in verlan)" - coined after the 1998 World Cup victory to honor the African and Afro Caribbean, European and North African origins of the players) were seen as "racially insensitive". When Finkielkraut cited popular culture organized along ethnic and religious lines as cause of the riots assigning the responsibility solely to the rioters, his critics alleged that his opinions on the matter were racist; Finkielkraut himself later said that he had been misquoted and misunderstood, but that his point had been that while many thought that the answer to racism was a multiracial society, a multiracial society could also become a "multiracist" society.

Subsequent to that controversy, he has issued other polemic statements. His thoughts about the current French society, which severely criticise various societal phenomena (notably what he calls "hostile immigration" and plain anti-racism), have earned him respect and a good reputation in France's conservative groups. It has also attracted equally severe criticism from left-wing or non-conservative groups, including newspapers such as Libération, Le Monde Diplomatique, Le Canard Enchaîné... Satirical, left-wing weekly Charlie Hebdo's recurring contributor Charb, known for his harsh, ultraliberal and bitter views on society, called him "le philosophe des Obscurités" ("the philosopher of Darknesses").

He has criticized the French president Nicolas Sarkozy for taking up jogging. [ [http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/09/magazine/09_32_exercise.html Jogging Politique - New York Times ] ]

References

Bibliography

* [http://www.azure.org.il/magazine/magazine.asp?id=265 The Religion of Humanity and the Sin of the Jews] , essay in Azure magazine.
* [http://www.azure.org.il/magazine/magazine.asp?id=19 Reflections on the Coming Anti-Semitism] , essay in Azure magazine.

External links

* [http://www.levinas.eu/ Official web site of the Institute for Levinassian Studies, co-founded by Alain Finkielkraut, Bernard-Henri Lévy and Benny Lévy]
* [http://www.ushmm.org/museum/exhibit/focus/antisemitism/voices/transcript/?content=20080228 Interview with Alain Finkielkraut] from the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum