French Philosophy in the Twentieth Century

by Gary Gutting

In this book Gary Gutting tells, clearly and comprehensively, the story of French philosophy from 1890 to 1990. He examines the often neglected background of spiritualism, university idealism, and early philosophy of science, and also discusses the privileged role of philosophy in the French education system. Taking account of this background, together with the influences of avant-garde literature and German philosophy, he develops a rich account of existential phenomenology, which he argues is the central achievement of French thought during the century, and of subsequent structuralist and poststructuralist developments. Gary Gutting is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Notre Dame and a leading authority on the work of Michel Foucault. In addition to continental philosophy, he has done important work in philosophy of science and philosophy of religion. Gutting is the author of several books, including Michel Foucault's Archaeology of Scientific Knowledge (Cambridge, 1989), Pragmatic Liberalism and the Critique of Modernity (Cambridge, 1999), and the editor of The Cambridge Companion to Foucault (Cambridge, 1994).

Genres: Philosophy, History, Nonfiction, Politics

419 pages, Hardcover

First published May 10, 2001

About the author

Gary Gutting was an American philosopher and holder of an endowed chair in philosophy at the University of Notre Dame.

Reviews

[Campbell Rider · Rating 4 out of 5]

The chapters on Bergson, Sartre, Merleau-Ponty, Foucault and Derrida stand out as both excellent philosophical overviews and historical introductions. The other chapters are more brief, and are more directed at evaluating the general themes and trends of certain periods than specific thinkers. All the same, you'll come away with at least a sense of where figures like Barthes, Lacan and Deleuze are positioned in post-war thought, and what their contribution is to the overall direction of French philosophy and 'theory' today.

[Andrew Myrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

French philosophers not trying to change the age of consent to 15 challenge (impossible)

[Kaden · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a good overview of French philosophy from 1890-1990. As is the nature of a book with such a large scope, some thinkers had to be left out, and some got less attention than perhaps is deserved (like Deleuze). It was quite pro-Sartre, which is fine, all authors have their biases. But I would have preferred less emphasis on him.

I would definitely recommend for anyone who wants to become more familiar with French philosophy and the evolution of it across the twentieth century.

[Raun · Rating 5 out of 5]

Simply amazing. Gutting's language is simple to understand and one can capture a steady flow of thought throughout the book. I read it easy faster than I had planned. I could read through any of his books with an ease and confidence one does not expect from philosophy books.

[Luke Echo]

Good, thorough introduction to French Philosophy

[Kerr · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent overview of French philosophy of the 20th c

[Stanimir · Rating 4 out of 5]

A concise yet excellent overview of 20th-century French philosophy. Highly recommended for anyone interested in French philosophy but lacking in-depth knowledge on the subject.

[Caleb Burdine · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very informative survey of 20th century French philosophy from its roots in the spiritualist tradition to its conclusion in the post-structuralist period. Along the way, Gutting introduces the major contributors to French philosophy in the various domains of existential phenomenology, structuralism, and the philosophy of science. The most impressive thing about the book is the continuity which Gutting is able to uncover within the most disparate meanderings of French thought. Beneath the variegations of 2oth century French philosophy, Gutting locates a pre-philosophical beating heart which he identifies as the French commitment to freedom. It is this commitment which motivates Sartre in L’être et le néant to identify nihilation as the fundamental power of consciousness and it likewise informs Derrida's deconstruction of ontotheological constructs which reduce the alterity of being to the logical uniformity of a system.
Gutting's work transcends the typical history of philosophy by not only giving the reader a topography of the intellectual landscape but also a feel for the culture which inspired the intellectual life of the country. The reader acquires more than an abstracted list of thinkers and their thoughts, instead he is given a vision of an entire Lebenswelt within which French philosophy grew in the 20th century.

[Sibyl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Somewhere between 3 and 4 stars. It seems like an expansive coverage of French philosophy; what inspired certain ideas, how do French thinkers link into each other, etc. I particularly liked it as an historical guide.

It seemed to try to do both, be an historical guide and a philosophical summary: it went deep into detail about a few particular arguments, especially about the subject going from Kant into the early French philosophers. I get how important that part is to the rest of the French philosophy but it was jarring and difficult to follow, but then the mode changed. The book did this often, suddenly going into detail about a philosophical argument from the historical portion. My gripe is what is left out or what isn't elaborated on. Huge focus is paid to the Kantian process but little to explain e.g. being-in-the-world.
Also RIP Beauvoir, the book explains that she was intelligent and impactful but only goes on to talk about the second sex, and very briefly at that.

[venus]

got like over halfway and decided i have other things id much rather be reading so i just flipped thru the rest and just read specific passages that interested me #sorry

[Tony · Rating 3 out of 5]

Helpful. Authorial agenda is unreasonably pro-Sartre and pro-Foucault, and thus gives an unfair account of the superior thinker Merleau-Ponty's project(in the former case)and shafts the more rich and vital (heh heh) work of Deleuze(in the latter), dwelling on sycophantic explications of more fashionable and less nuanced ideas formulated by their more famous contemporaries. Otherwise a good history-of-ideas that doesn't feel like a patchwork.