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Jacques Bouveresse: Being UnFrench, Metaphorically

University of Kent, t.baldwin{at}kent.ac.uk

Jacques Bouveresse is professor of philosophy at the Collège de France in Paris. He has published widely on Wittgenstein, Robert Musil and Karl Kraus. As an analytical philosopher, he has been, as it were, the mirror image of an Adorno at pre-war Oxford. Unlike his Anglo-Saxon counterparts at Oxford, he is the beleaguered minority in France. He does not have the option either of lofty disdain or Ayerish japery. He grumbles. Anyone familiar with philosophical debate or its journalistic variant in France over the past 20 years, and indeed with the `affaire Sokal', will be aware of the charge (some have regarded it as more of a jibe) made by some `analytical' philosophers that what passes for philosophy in France is not `scientific' or `precise' enough: it is little more and even less than `littérature'. This article argues that while Bouveresse is one who makes such a charge, and is well armed to do so, he nevertheless provides an interesting case in that he is by no means immune to literary materials, and indeed his treatment of metaphor leads us to question the content as well as the effectiveness of the charge.

Key Words: Jacques Bouveresse • Donald Davidson • Régis Debray • Jacques Derrida • metaphor

References

• Bourdieu, Pierre (1979) Distinction: Critique sociale du jugement. Paris: Minuit.
• Bourdieu, Pierre (1993) The Field of Cultural Production. New York: Columbia University Press.
• Bouveresse, Jacques (1983) `Why I Am So Very UnFrench', in Alain Montefiore (ed.), Philosophy in France Today, pp. 9—33. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Bouveresse, Jacques (1991) Philosophie, mythologie et pseudo-science: Wittgenstein lecteur de Freud. Nîmes: Éditions de l'éclat.
• Bouveresse, Jacques (1998) Le Philosophe et le réel: entretiens avec Jean Jacques Rosat. Paris: Hachette.
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French Cultural Studies, Vol. 18, No. 3, 321-333 (2007)
DOI: 10.1177/0957155807081447


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This Article Abstract Free Full Text (Free PDF) Free Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Baldwin, T. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?