Frédéric Worms – författare

Such was the feeling that Henri Bergson's famous public lectures at the College de France were 'an event' that they were taken down word for word by Charles Péguy's stenographers. Throughout the lectures Bergson, almost as famous for his oratorical prowess as his philosophical works, brought together his two most impressive attributes: a capacity for truly original thinking and an uncanny ability to hold a crowd's attention. The lectures were a self-styled introduction to his work, and are a brilliant initiation to Bergson for readers today. We hear, for example, how the work of philosophers from Plato, Aristotle, and Plotinus to Descartes, Leibniz and Kant shaped his famous writings on creation and process and how he began thinking in his distinctively evolutionary way.These lectures were lost, presumed destroyed, for decades. Under Frederic Worms meticulous direction, these hitherto unread philosophies of this Nobel prize winning writer have now come to light.

Such was the feeling that Henri Bergson's famous public lectures at the College de France were 'an event' that they were taken down word for word by Charles Péguy's stenographers. Throughout the lectures Bergson, almost as famous for his oratorical prowess as his philosophical works, brought together his two most impressive attributes: a capacity for truly original thinking and an uncanny ability to hold a crowd's attention. The lectures were a self-styled introduction to his work, and are a brilliant initiation to Bergson for readers today. We hear, for example, how the work of philosophers from Plato, Aristotle, and Plotinus to Descartes, Leibniz and Kant shaped his famous writings on creation and process and how he began thinking in his distinctively evolutionary way.These lectures were lost, presumed destroyed, for decades. Under Frederic Worms meticulous direction, these hitherto unread philosophies of this Nobel prize winning writer have now come to light.

The unlivable is the most extreme point of human suffering and injustice. But what is it exactly? How do we define the unlivable? And what can we do to prevent and repair it? These are the intriguing questions Judith Butler and Frédéric Worms discuss in a captivating dialogue situated at the crossroads of contemporary life and politics. Here, Judith Butler criticizes the norms that make life precarious and unlivable, while Frédéric Worms appeals to a "critical vitalism" as a way of allowing the hardship of the unlivable to reveal what is vital for us.For both Butler and Worms, the difference between the livable and the unlivable forms the critical foundation for a contemporary practice of care. Care and support, in all their aspects, make human life livable, that is, "more than living." To understand it, we must draw on the concrete practices of humans who are confronted with the unlivable: the refugees of today and the witnesses and survivors of past violations and genocide. They teach us what is intolerable but also undeniable about the unlivable, and what we can do to resist it. Crafted with critical rigor, mutual respect, and lively humor, the compelling dialogue transcribed and translated in this book took place at the École Normale Supérieure (ENS) on April 11, 2018, at a time when close to two thousand migrants were living in nearby makeshift camps in northern Paris. The Livable and the Unlivable showcases this 2018 dialogue in the context of Butler's and Worms's ongoing work and the evolution of their thought, as presented by Laure Barillas and Arto Charpentier in their equally engaging introduction. It concludes with a new afterword that addresses the crises unfolding in our world and the ways a philosophically rigorous account of life must confront them. While this book will be of keen interest to readers of philosophy and cultural criticism, and those interested in vitalism, new materialism, and critical theory, it is a far from merely academic text. In the conversation between Butler and Worms, we encounter questions we all grapple with in confronting the distress and precarity of our times, marked as it is by types of survival that are unlivable, from concentration camps to prisons to environmental toxicity, to forcible displacement, to the Covid pandemic.The Livable and the Unlivable at once considers longstanding philosophical questions around why and how we live, while working to retrieve a philosophy of life for today's Left.

The unlivable is the most extreme point of human suffering and injustice. But what is it exactly? How do we define the unlivable? And what can we do to prevent and repair it? These are the intriguing questions Judith Butler and Frédéric Worms discuss in a captivating dialogue situated at the crossroads of contemporary life and politics. Here, Judith Butler criticizes the norms that make life precarious and unlivable, while Frédéric Worms appeals to a "critical vitalism" as a way of allowing the hardship of the unlivable to reveal what is vital for us.For both Butler and Worms, the difference between the livable and the unlivable forms the critical foundation for a contemporary practice of care. Care and support, in all their aspects, make human life livable, that is, "more than living." To understand it, we must draw on the concrete practices of humans who are confronted with the unlivable: the refugees of today and the witnesses and survivors of past violations and genocide. They teach us what is intolerable but also undeniable about the unlivable, and what we can do to resist it. Crafted with critical rigor, mutual respect, and lively humor, the compelling dialogue transcribed and translated in this book took place at the École Normale Supérieure (ENS) on April 11, 2018, at a time when close to two thousand migrants were living in nearby makeshift camps in northern Paris. The Livable and the Unlivable showcases this 2018 dialogue in the context of Butler's and Worms's ongoing work and the evolution of their thought, as presented by Laure Barillas and Arto Charpentier in their equally engaging introduction. It concludes with a new afterword that addresses the crises unfolding in our world and the ways a philosophically rigorous account of life must confront them. While this book will be of keen interest to readers of philosophy and cultural criticism, and those interested in vitalism, new materialism, and critical theory, it is a far from merely academic text. In the conversation between Butler and Worms, we encounter questions we all grapple with in confronting the distress and precarity of our times, marked as it is by types of survival that are unlivable, from concentration camps to prisons to environmental toxicity, to forcible displacement, to the Covid pandemic.The Livable and the Unlivable at once considers longstanding philosophical questions around why and how we live, while working to retrieve a philosophy of life for today's Left.

En 1983 paraissait L’Homme neuronal de Jean-Pierre Changeux. L’ouvrage eut un impact considérable, bien au-delà du monde scientifique. Il proposait un nouveau programme de recherche en neurobiologie, mais aussi une vision matérialiste des rapports entre le cerveau et la pensée. De ce fait, il suscita des réactions parfois violentes chez les philosophes et les psychanalystes. Plus de trente ans après, nous ouvrons de nouveau le débat entre Changeux, ses collègues scientifiques, les spécialistes des sciences humaines et les philosophes. Si l’échange a lieu dans un esprit d’écoute et dans une ambiance apaisée, cela ne signifie pas que les différences de point de vue aient disparu. Ce livre montre les progrès accomplis dans la connaissance du cerveau pendant ces dernières décennies et la manière dont le débat a évolué tout en conservant sa force et son actualité. L’ensemble constitue aussi une excellente introduction à l’œuvre de Jean-Pierre Changeux. Sous la direction de Michel Morange, Francis Wolff et Frédéric Worms

En 1983 paraissait L’Homme neuronal de Jean-Pierre Changeux. L’ouvrage eut un impact considérable, bien au-delà du monde scientifique. Il proposait un nouveau programme de recherche en neurobiologie, mais aussi une vision matérialiste des rapports entre le cerveau et la pensée. De ce fait, il suscita des réactions parfois violentes chez les philosophes et les psychanalystes. Plus de trente ans après, nous ouvrons de nouveau le débat entre Changeux, ses collègues scientifiques, les spécialistes des sciences humaines et les philosophes. Si l’échange a lieu dans un esprit d’écoute et dans une ambiance apaisée, cela ne signifie pas que les différences de point de vue aient disparu. Ce livre montre les progrès accomplis dans la connaissance du cerveau pendant ces dernières décennies et la manière dont le débat a évolué tout en conservant sa force et son actualité. L’ensemble constitue aussi une excellente introduction à l’œuvre de Jean-Pierre Changeux. Sous la direction de Michel Morange, Francis Wolff et Frédéric Worms

« Nous avons besoin aujourd’hui d’un humanisme vital. Et cela nous ramène à la “valeur” de l’humain qui est la condition de tout humanisme et sur laquelle on s’est beaucoup trompé. Car cette “valeur” n’est pas une propriété simple qui excepterait l’humain du vivant ou qui pourrait être écrasée par lui. Elle réside plutôt dans des inventions humaines, réponses toujours perfectibles à tous les dangers vitaux à la fois. Ainsi, cet humanisme est vital non seulement parce qu’il situe l’humain dans le vivant, mais parce qu’il le considère comme nécessaire et urgent, pour la vie de tous les vivants. L’humanisme suppose encore autre chose : un accès universel à tous les humains. Or, ici, nous partageons bien quelque chose mais n’est-ce pas d’abord une inquiétude ? Oui, en effet. C’est même ce qui m’a poussé à vous écrire. Mais je savais, dès que je m’y suis engagé, que cela nous permettrait aussi de rejoindre nos joies. » F. W. Dans ces lettres adressées à une amie « inquiète et qui sait penser », Frédéric Worms explique pourquoi l’humanisme vital est la réponse philosophique aux dangers de notre temps. Frédéric Worms est professeur de philosophie contemporaine à l’École normale supérieure, dont il est directeur adjoint depuis 2015, et l’auteur remarqué d’ouvrages de philosophie. Il est membre du Comité consultatif national d’éthique et l’un des producteurs, sur France Culture, de l’émission Matières à penser.