André Glucksmann | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Glucksmann in 2012 | |
| Born | (1937-06-19)19 June 1937 Boulogne-Billancourt, France |
| Died | 10 November 2015(2015-11-10) (aged 78) Paris, France |
| Alma mater | École normale supérieure de Saint-Cloud |
| Era | 20th-,21st-century philosophy |
| Region | Western philosophy |
| School | Continental philosophy Nouveaux Philosophes |
Main interests | Political philosophy |
André Glucksmann (French:[ɡlyksman]; 19 June 1937 – 10 November 2015) was a French philosopher, activist, and writer. He was a leading figure of thenew philosophers. Glucksmann began his career as aMarxist, who went on to rejectMarxism–Leninism andreal socialism in the popular bookLa Cuisinière et le Mangeur d'Hommes (1975), and later became ananti-Communist and outspoken critic of theSoviet Union and post-Soviet Russian foreign policy. He was a strong supporter ofhuman rights. In later years, he opposed the claim thatIslamic terrorism is the product of the clash of civilizations betweenIslam and theWestern world.
André Glucksmann was born in 1937 inBoulogne-Billancourt, the son ofAshkenazi Jewish parents fromAustria-Hungary. His father was fromCzernowitz in northernBukovina, which later became part ofRomania and is now inUkraine, and his mother fromPrague, which later became the capital ofCzechoslovakia.[1]
Glucksmann's father was killed in World War II, and his mother and sister were active in theFrench Resistance.[2] The family "narrowly escaped deportation to the camps" during theHolocaust, which influenced Glucksmann's developing ideas of "the state as the ultimate source of barbarism".[2] He studied at the Lycée la Martinière in Lyon, and later enrolled atÉcole normale supérieure de Saint-Cloud. His first book,Le Discours de la Guerre, was published in 1968.[3]
In 1975, Glucksmann published theanti-Communist bookLa Cuisinière et le Mangeur d'Hommes, which was subtitledRéflexions sur l'État, le marxisme et les camps de concentration, in which he argued thatMarxism–Leninism leads inevitably tototalitarianism, tracing parallels between the crimes ofNazism andCommunist states.[3] In his next book,Les maitres penseurs, published in 1977 and translated into English asMaster Thinkers (Harper & Row, 1980), he traced the intellectual justification for totalitarianism back to the ideas articulated by various German philosophers, such asFichte,Hegel,Marx, andNietzsche.[4] In the years of theVietnam War, Glucksmann rose to national prominence after expressing his support forVietnamese boat people.[3] He began working withBernard-Henri Lévy criticizingcommunism.[5] Both had formerly been well knownMarxists. Shortly afterwards, they became known, along with others of their generation who rejected Marxism, asNew Philosophers, a term coined by Lévy.[5]
In 1985, Glucksmann signed a petition to then United States presidentRonald Reagan urging him to continue his support for theContras inNicaragua.[6] After the fall of theBerlin Wall, Glucksmann became an advocate for the use of nuclear power.[3] In 1995, he supported the resumption of nuclear tests by the-then French presidentJacques Chirac.[7] He supported theNATO intervention in Serbia in 1999. He also called forChechnya to become independent.[8]
In his bookDostoyevsky in Manhattan, Glucksmann asserts thatnihilism, particularly as depicted byDostoyevsky in his novelsDemons andThe Brothers Karamazov, is the 'characteristic form' of modern terrorism. Drawing onIvan Karamazov's dictum that "If there is no God, everything is permitted", Glucksmann argues: "The inner nature of nihilistic terrorism is that everything is permissible, whether because God exists and I am his representative, or because God does not exist and I take his place."[9]
His 2006 bookUne rage d'enfant is an autobiography which talks about how his experiences as a young Jew in occupied France led to his interest in philosophy and his belief in the importance of intervention. He wrote: "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."[10]
Glucksmann criticised the notion thatIslamic terrorism is a product of the clash of civilizations between Islam and the West, arguing that the first victims of Islamic terrorism areMuslims. He wrote: "Why do the 200,000 slaughtered Muslims ofDarfur not arouse even half a quarter of the fury caused by 200-times fewer dead inLebanon? 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?"[9]
Glucksmann supported military action by the West in Afghanistan and Iraq, and was highly critical of Russian foreign policy, supporting for exampleChechen independence (for which he was posthumously awarded the Order of Friendship by theChechen government in exile).[11][12] He was 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, stating: "IfTbilisi falls, there will be no way to get aroundGazprom and guarantee autonomous access to the gas and petroleumwealth of Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, and Kazakhstan."[11]
As evidence of Russia's plans to useenergy blackmail, Glucksmann referenced a biting anti-Gazprom satirical song performed at the annual satirical award show "Silver Rubber Boot", which made jokes like: "If theEurovision Song Contest denies victory to Russia again, we are going to drive to their concert and block their gas with our bodies!"[13] Glucksmann cited this as evidence that the Russian people want to cut off gas to Ukraine and Europe. He wrote: "Consider a popular song performed by a military choir in Moscow. Its chorus depicts the 'radiant future' that Gazprom is preparing: 'Europe has a problem with us? We will cut off its gas...' The Russian public loves the song."[14]
Glucksmann supportedNicolas Sarkozy for the2007 French presidential election.[15] In August 2008, he co-signed an open letter withVáclav Havel,Desmond Tutu, andWei Jingsheng calling upon the Chinese authorities to respect human rights both during and after the2008 Summer Olympics.[16] He was also a signatory of thePrague Declaration on European Conscience and Communism.[17]
Glucksmann died in Paris on 10 November 2015 at the age of 78.[3] In reaction to his death, the-then French presidentFrançois Hollande said that Glucksmann always "listened to the suffering of peoples".[5] Former president and opposition leaderNicolas Sarkozy commented on Glucksmann's death by saying: "[Glucksmann] turned a page in French thought from the second half of the 20th Century."[5]
Note: Many of his works were translated into German by his long-term colleagueHelmut Kohlenberger.
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