An Atheism that Is Not Humanist Emerges in French Thought (Cultural Memory in the Present)

This book seeks to explain the critiques of humanism and the "negative" philosophical anthropologies that dominated mid-century philosophy and traces the appearance of a new, non-humanist atheism in twentieth-century French thought.;Introduction : bourgeois humanism and a first death of man -- The anthropology of antifoundational realism : philosophy of science, phenomenology and "human reality" in France, 1928-1934 -- No humanism except mine! : ideologies of exclusivist universalism and the new men of interwar France -- Alexandre Kojève's negative anthropology, 1931-1939 -- Inventions of antihumanism, 1935 : phenomenology, the critique of transcendence, and the kenosis of human subjectivity in early existentialism -- Introduction : the humanist mantle, restored and retorn -- After the resistance (1) : engagement, being and the demise of philosophical anthropology -- Atheism and freedom after the death of God : Blanchot, Catholicism, literature, and life -- After the resistance (2) : Merleau-Ponty, communism, terror and the demise of philosophical anthropology -- Man in suspension : Jean Hyppolite on history, being, and language. Stanford University Press Contents 8 Acknowledgments 10 Abbreviations 14 Man Under Erasure: Introduction 20 I. The 1930s 54 Introduction: Bourgeois Humanism and a First Death of Man 56 1. The Anthropology of Antifoundational Realism: Philosophy of Science, Phenomenology, and “Human Reality” in France, 1928–1934 68 2. No Humanism Except Mine! Ideologies of Exclusivist Universalism and the New Men of Interwar France 119 3. Alexandre Kojève’s Negative Anthropology, 1931–1939 149 4. Inventions of Antihumanism, 1935: Phenomenology, the Critique of Transcendence, and the Kenosis of Human Subjectivity in Early Existentialism 192 II. The Postwar Decade 226 Introduction: The Humanist Mantle, Restored and Retorn 228 5. After the Resistance (1): Engagement, Being, and the Demise of Philosophical Anthropology 241 6. Atheism and Freedom After the Death of God: Blanchot, Catholicism, Literature, and Life 270 7. After the Resistance (2): Merleau-Ponty, Communism, Terror, and the Demise of Philosophical Anthropology 287 8. Man in Suspension: Jean Hyppolite on History, Being, and Language 306 Conclusion 324 Notes 336 Bibliography 406 Index 434 0804762988,9780804762984 French philosophy changed dramatically in the second quarter of the twentieth century. In the wake of World War I and, later, the Nazi and Soviet disasters, major philosophers such as Kojà ̈ve, Levinas, Heidegger, Koyré, Sartre, Merleau-Ponty, and Hyppolite argued that man could no longer fill the void left by the death of God without also calling up the worst in human history and denigrating the dignity of the human subject. In response, they contributed to a new belief that man should no longer be viewed as the basis for existence, thought, and ethics; rather, human nature became dependent on other concepts and structures, including Being, language, thought, and culture. This argument, which was to be paramount for existentialism and structuralism, came to dominate postwar thought. This intellectual history of these developments argues that at their heart lay a new atheism that rejected humanism as insufficient and ultimately violent. French philosophy changed dramatically in the second quarter of the twentieth century. In the wake of World War I and, later, the Nazi and Soviet disasters, major philosophers such as Kojève, Levinas, Heidegger, Koyré, Sartre, Merleau-Ponty, and Hyppolite argued that man could no longer fill the void left by the "death of God" without also calling up the worst in human history and denigrating the dignity of the human subject. In response, they contributed to a new belief that man should no longer be viewed as the basis for existence, thought, and ethics; rather, human nature became dependent on other concepts and structures, including Being, language, thought, and culture. This argument, which was to be paramount for existentialism and structuralism, came to dominate postwar thought. This intellectual history of these developments argues that at their heart lay a new atheism that rejected humanism as insufficient and ultimately violent. French philosophy changed dramatically in the second quarter of the twentieth century. In the wake of World War I and, later, the Nazi and Soviet disasters, major philosophers such as Kojeve, Levinas, Heidegger, Koyre, Sartre, Merleau-Ponty, and Hyppolite argued that man could no longer fill the void left by the 'death of God' without also calling up the worst in human history and denigrating the dignity of the human subject. In response, they contributed to a new belief that man should no longer be viewed as the basis for existence, thought, and ethics; rather, human nature became dependent on other concepts and structures, including Being, language, thought, and culture. This argument, which was to be paramount for existentialism and structuralism, came to dominate postwar thought. This intellectual history of these developments argues that at their heart lay a new atheism that rejected humanism as insufficient and ultimately Introduction : bourgeois humanism and a first death of man The anthropology of antifoundational realism : philosophy of science, phenomenology and "human reality" (1928-34) No humanism except mine! : ideologies of exclusivist universalism and the new men of interwar France An atheism that is not humanist : Alexandre Kojåve's negative anthropology (1931-39) Inventions of antihumanism (1935) : phenomenology, the critique of transcendence, and the kenosis of human subjectivity in early existentialism Introduction : the humanist mantle, restored and retorn After the resistance (1) : engagement, being and the demise of philosophical anthropology Atheism and freedom after the death of God : Blanchot, Catholicism, literature, and life After the resistance (2) : Merleau-Ponty, communism, terror and the demise of philosophical anthropology Dialectical roadkill : Jean Hyppolite and man in suspension.