André Glucksmann

André Glucksmann in 2008

André Glucksmann (born 1937) is a prominent French philosopher and writer, and leading member of the French new philosophers.

Early years

André Glucksmann was born in 1937, in Boulogne-Billancourt, the son of Austrian Jewish parents. He studied in Lyon, and later enrolled at École normale supérieure de Saint-Cloud. His first book, Le Discours de Ia Guerre, was published in 1968. In 1975 he published the anti-Marxist book La Cuisinière le Mangeur d'Hommes, in which he argued that Marxism leads inevitably to totalitarianism, tracing parallels between the crimes of Nazism and Communism. In his next book Les maitres penseurs, published in 1977 and translated into English as "Master Thinkers" (Harper & Row, 1980), he traced the intellectual justification for totalitarianism back to the ideas articulated by various German philosophers i.e. Fichte, Hegel, Marx, and Nietzsche.

Philosophy

In "The Brothers Karamazov" and other works, Dostoevsky asserts that if God doesn't exist, then everything is permitted. In his book, "Dostoyevsky in Manhattan" André Glucksmann applies this critique of godless nihilism to 9/11. His most recent book, “Une rage d’enfant” (2006) is an autobiography which talks about how his experiences as a youth as a Jew in occupied France led to his interest in philosophy and his belief in the importance of intervention:

“My style of thinking is to compare what happens on the TV, in the news and so on, and then extract what I can from books of philosophers to understand it. Philosophy for me is like subtitles. The problem comes from [current events] but the answer is supplied by philosophy.”

Glucksmann criticises the notion that Islamist terrorism is a product of the clash of civilizations between Islam and the West, arguing that the first victims of Islamic terrorism are Muslims:

"Why do the 200,000 slaughtered Muslims of Darfur not arouse even half a quarter of the fury caused by 200-times fewer dead in Lebanon? Must we deduce that Muslims killed by other Muslims don’t count - whether in the eyes of Muslim authorities or viewed through the bad conscience of the west?"

Activism

Glucksmann supports military action by the West in Afghanistan and Iraq, and is highly critical of Russian foreign policy, supporting for example Chechen independence [1]. He, however, is against the Abkhazian and South Ossetian independence from Georgia, arguing that Georgia is essential to maintaining European Union "energy independence," vis-a-vis Russia, through access to oil and gas reserves in the former Soviet republics: "If Tbilisi falls, there will be no way to get around Gazprom and guarantee autonomous access to the gas and petroleum wealth of Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, and Kazakhstan" . As proof of Russia's plans to use energy blackmail, Glucksmann references a biting anti-Gazprom satirical song, performed at the annual satirical award show "Silver Rubber Boot", which he describes as proof that the Russian people want to cut off gas to Ukraine and Europe. "The Russian public loves the song" - he asserts, referring to this anti-Putin satire, performed exactly once. Among the Russian public in the laughing audience were the leader of the pro-Western opposition Boris Nemtsov and a Finnish film actor Ville Haapasalo.

Glucksmann supported Nicolas Sarkozy for the April-May 2007 presidential election . In August 2008 he co-signed an open letter with Václav Havel, Desmond Tutu, and Wei Jingsheng calling upon the Chinese authorities to respect human rights both during and after the Beijing Olympic Games.

Works

• A Child's Rage (Une rage d'enfant) (2006)
• The Discourse of Hate (Le Discours de la haine) (2004)
• West Versus West (Ouest contre Ouest) (2003)
• Dostoevsky in Manhattan (Dostoïevski à Manhattan) (2002)
• The Third Death of God (La Troisième Mort de Dieu) (2000)
• Stupidity (La Bêtise) (1985)
• Cynicism and Passion (Cynisme et passion) (1981/1999)
• The Force of Vertigo (La Force du vertige) (1983).
• The Master Thinkers (Les Maîtres penseurs) (1977)

Interviews

• "An Interview with Andre Glucksman". TELOS 33 (Fall 1977). New York: Telos Press

External links

• The Velvet Philosophical Revolution, City Journal, Winter 2010
• A Moment of Truth, City Journal, Autumn 2009
• On "Disproportion," City Journal online, 2009
• Olympic Crossroads, City Journal online, 2008
• Time on Putin's Side, City Journal online, 2008
• From the H-Bomb to the Human Bomb, City Journal, Autumn 2007
• The André Glucksmann File
• The French malady, article by Andre Glucksmann on the Clearstream Affair
• Separating truth and belief, article by Andre Glucksmann on the Danish Muhammad cartoons
• The victory of Euro-nihilism, article by Andre Glucksmann on the French "non" to the European constitution