The Mediocracy: French Philosophy Since 1968: French Philosophy Since the Mid-1970s

by Gregory Elliott (Translator), Dominique Lecourt (Author)

New
Paperback
2002
$34.99

Generating great controversy on its publication in France last year, The Mediocracy argues that a veritable counter-revolution in intellectual life has seen the period of the master-thinkers of the 1960s succeeded by an era of generalized mediocrity. Where Althusser or Lacan, Foucault or Derrida once held centre stage, today restorationist currents prevail in academia and on television sets. Fuelled by a complaisant media, contemporary French ideology seeks neither to interpret nor to change the world, but is instead content to legitimize a globally hegemonic neo-liberalism.

Synopsis

Generating great controversy on its publication in France last year, The Mediocracy argues that a veritable counter-revolution in intellectual life has seen the period of the master-thinkers of the 1960s succeeded by an era of generalized mediocrity. Where Althusser or Lacan, Foucault or Derrida once held centre stage, today restorationist currents prevail in academia and on television sets. Fuelled by a complaisant media, contemporary French ideology seeks neither to interpret nor to change the world, but is instead content to legitimize a globally hegemonic neo-liberalism.

$34.99

Quantity

20+ in stock

More Information

Format: Paperback
Pages: 258
Edition: New
Publisher: Verso
Published: 17 Nov 2002
ISBN 10: 9781859844
ISBN 13: 9781859844304

Media Reviews

serious students and professors of French history and culture between 1968 and 1998 will find this book fascinating ... It effectively recreates the intense intellectual atmosphere of Paris during the 30 years following the 'events' of 1968. Lecourt, a former student of Louis Althusser, draws on a rich tapestry of books, newspaper columns, magazine articles, TV broadcasts, and university lectures. - Choice Dominique Lecourt ... [is] rightly concerned with the present state of French intellectual life and fearful for its future. -- Radical Philosophy Without a doubt, Lecourt's observations on the French philosophical scene will appeal to fans and specialists eager for a glimpse of 'when Derrida was not yet Derrida', of mysterious Guy Debourd and his 'Situationist' admirers, and tidbits from the 'battle of petitions' that once defined political struggle among French intellectuals. His insistence, against the French team of Luc Ferry and Alain Renaut, that the protests of May '68 comprised quite diverse ideological elements and not just an 'anti-humanist' rigidity, deserves consideration. - Philadelphia Inquirer

Author Bio

Dominique Lecourt was a pupil of Louis Althusser and Jacques Derrida at the Ecole normale superieure in the 1960s. Now Professor of Philosophy at the University of Paris VII, his publications in English include Marxism and Epistemology and Proletarian Science?