Fernand Brunner

Fernand Brunner (born October 8, 1920 in Lausanne , † November 1, 1991 in Cortaillod , Canton of Neuchâtel ) was a Swiss philosopher and historian of philosophy .

Brunner studied at the University of Lausanne , where he obtained his license in 1942 . He then went to the University of Paris , where he acquired his doctorat d'État in 1951 (the “thèse principale” was for Leibniz , the “thèse complémentaire” was dedicated to Solomon ibn Gabirol ). During these years he headed the Fondation suisse of the Cité Internationale Universitaire de Paris (1949–1954). In 1954 he was appointed professor of the history of philosophy at the University of Neuchâtel , a chair that he held until 1985. In parallel, he taught regularly in French at the University of Bern (1956–1985). In addition, he held numerous visiting professorships: at the universities of Poitiers (1957), Tours (1960), Louvain (1963), Madras (1966), Genève (1974–1975, 1981–1982, 1989–1990), Lausanne (1976–1976) 1977, 1988-1989), Montréal (1978), Friborg (1978). He retired in 1986. In addition to various functions in university self-administration, Brunner was President of the Société suisse de philosophie (1961–1963) and the Société romande de philosophie (1966–1969). From 1964 to 1985 he was a member of the editorial committee of the Revue de théologie et de philosophie , the journal of the Société romande de philosophie. From 1969 to 1980 he was also president of the Association des Sociétés de philosophie de langue française and finally of the Institut International de Philosophie .

Brunner was married to the Indologist Hélène Brunner-Lachaux ( CNRS , Paris).

Brunner mainly worked on Meister Eckhart , on the relationship between Aristotelianism and Platonism in the Middle Ages, on the Jewish philosopher Solomon ibn Gabirol, on ancient Neo-Platonism and on the history of philosophy as a whole. He took a decidedly metaphysical approach . Brunner came from a Protestant environment and saw no irreconcilable contradiction in the connection between religion and philosophy, between faith and reason .

Fonts (selection)

• Études sur la signification historique de la philosophie de Leibniz. Vrin, Paris 1950.
• Science et réalité . Paris, 1954.
• Maître Eckhart. Seghers, Paris 1969 (Philosophes de tous les temps, 59).
• L'œuvre latine de Maître Eckhart , t. I: Le Commentaire de la Genèse, précédé des Prologues. Texts et traduction by Fernand Brunner, Alain de Libera, Edouard Wéber, Emilie Zum Brunn. Cerf, Paris 1984.
• Reflections on science, philosophy and religion. In: A. Mercier, M. Svilar (eds.), Philosophes critiques d'eux-mêmes. Philosophers on Their Own Work, Philosophical Self-Contemplations , t. XIII, P. Lang, Bern 1986.
• Métaphysique d'Ibn Gabirol et de la tradition Platonicienne. Ashgate, Aldershot 1997, ISBN 0-86078-654-4 .

Font directories

• Ch.Gagnebin, G. Boss, A. Labhardt, D. Zaslawsky (Eds.): Métaphysique, Histoire de la philosophe. Baconnière, Neuchâtel 1981. - (contains a list of publications up to 1980)
• Ch.Gagnebin, G. Seel , D. Schulthess (Eds.), Le dépassement de soi dans la pensée philosophique. Baconnière, Neuchâtel 1992. - (contains a continuation of the list of publications from 1980)

literature

• J.-M. Gabaude: Un demi-siècle de philosophie en langue française (1937–1990). Montmorency, Montréal 1990.
• Daniel Schulthess: Fernand Brunner, philosopher (1920–1991). In: Revue de théologie et de philosophie 42, 1, 1992, 1-3, (online) (PDF)
• Henri Lauener : Fernand Brunner (1920–1991). In: Dialectica 47, No. 2/3, 1993, 85-87, (excerpt online) .